Thursday, August 4, 2011

We’ve Struck Oil… with Nitrogen Generators

Enhanced Oil Recovery (tertiary recovery) involves extending the life of oil and gas reservoirs through a variety of fluid / chemical injections into existing reservoirs.  Enhanced oil recovery can be achieved in a few different ways – by gas injection, by chemical injection, thermal recovery, or by microbial injection (utilized less often due to higher cost).  Membrane Nitrogen injection is one of several fluids that can be used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR).

Nitrogen injection is one of the most commonly used approaches in enhanced oil recovery as it allows control over the oil pressure. Nitrogen injection at distributed wells throughout a reservoir reduces the thickness of the oil as the nitrogen mixes with it. Re-pressurizing a reservoir with air would cause the oil to ignite into flame – therefore gas injection is better suited.
 
By utilizing a membrane nitrogen injection, production in an oil reservoir can be improved by 2 – 3 times over the existing production rate.  Nitrogen requirements for EOR range from 320 scfm to over 3200 scfm. The MAXIGAS PSA nitrogen generator permits nitrogen flows from 70 scfh to 5225 scfh.

Contact a nitrogen generators supplier today for your EOR project.