Application of Nanotechnology in Petroleum Exploration and Production

A PNGE 200 Project Report by Moses Ajemigbitse

The Oil and Gas Industry stands to become one of the biggest beneficiaries from Nanotechnologys various applications. The development of Nanotechnology is drilling could give Nano-enhanced materials that provide strength and endurance to increase performance and reliability in drilling, tubular goods and rotating parts. New imaging and computational techniques will allow for better discovery, sizing, and more-reliable and more energy efficient transportation vessels. 4/11/2012 |Page

Application of Nanotechnology in Petroleum Exploration and Production

ABSTRACT
Forecasts by Exxon Mobil suggests that, despite the global economic downturn, energy needs will increase by 35% between 2005 and 2035, with oil and natural gas being the major commodities expected to meet up to 80% of the global energy demands through to 2030. The Oil and Gas Industry is faced with the challenge of keeping up with the increasing demand of energy. The field of Nanotechnology emerged in 1991 as a tool for research in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. However, Nanotechnology has been applied to many diverse fields since then. The scientific potential that Carbon nanotubes possess has led to their being used across many fields and for different applications. The Oil and Gas Industry stands to become one of the biggest beneficiaries from Nanotechnologys various applications. In oil andgas applications, nanotechnology could beused to increase opportunities to developgeothermal resources by enhancing thermalconductivity, improving downholeseparation, and aiding in the developmentof noncorrosive materials that could beused for geothermal-energy production. The development of Nanotechnology in drilling could give Nano-enhanced materials that provide strength and endurance to increase performance and reliability in drilling, tubular goods and rotating parts. New imaging and computational techniques will allow for better discovery, sizing, and more-reliable and more energy efficient transportation vessels.

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Table of Contents
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................ i A. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND ............................................................................... 2 INTRODCTION ............................................................................................................................... 2 BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................... 2 B. ONGOING WORK IN THE INDUSTRY .................................................................................. 3 RESEARCH ....................................................................................................................................... 3 1. 2. 3. 4. Saudi Aramco ..................................................................................................................... 3 Shell...................................................................................................................................... 3 Baker Hughes ..................................................................................................................... 3 Halliburton ......................................................................................................................... 4

POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS ...................................................................................................... 4 1. 2. 5. C. Nanofluid technology promises large-scale performance gains from tight New Sensors for Improving Exploration ....................................................................... 5 Nanomaterials Application .............................................................................................. 5

reservoirs ....................................................................................................................................... 4

OTHER APPLICATIONS ........................................................................................................... 6 ENVIRONMENTAL APPLICATIONS OF NANOTECHNOLOGY ........................................ 6

D. REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................... 7

TABLE OF FIGURES Figure 1-Atomic Structure of carbon nanotubes ............................................................................. 2 Figure 2-Nanotechnology Applications for Upstream Oil and Gas ............................................. 3 Figure 3-Using Nanofluids in tight reservoirs ................................................................................. 4

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Moses Ajemigbitse

A.

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

INTRODCTION
Nanotechnology is the process of controlling matter at a subatomic level and its diversity means that uses of nanotechnology are huge in number and stretch across a vast array of industries, and oil and gas stand to benefit a great deal. Nanotechnology is exciting because the science and engineering behind it are largely unknown. In fact, most scientists are aware that the laws that govern materials at nanoscale are very different from those that have been widely accepted in larger scales (Islam 2004). Recent work by Nobel Prize physicist Richard Smalley of Rice U. supports this hypothesis. He discovered that carbon nanotubes (Fig. 1) and fullerenes (buckyballs), nanoparticles of carbon, which are conventionally characterized as graphite, behaved in ways unlike graphite.
Figure 1-Atomic Structure of carbon nanotubes

BACKGROUND
In 2006 the world's first nanotechnology project was initiated to help extract more petrol from oil fields at the University of Queensland's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN). During standard drilling and refining oil companies are forced to leave behind as much as two barrels for every barrel of oil they produce, meaning nanotechnology could revolutionize the oil industry by saving this lost oil. The potential for nanotechnology in oil and gasexploration has since become huge. So much so thatresearch projects are underway across the world todevelop the technology; most notably at the US-basedAdvanced Energy Consortium, a research body fundedby 10 of the world's biggest oil companies at a cost of$1 million a year each.

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Application of Nanotechnology in Petroleum Exploration and Production

B.
RESEARCH

ONGOING WORK IN THE INDUSTRY

With the global oil reserves dwindling, nanotechnology has become invaluable. There are companies that have already begun to research ways to increase their production by using nanotechnology. 1. Saudi Aramco Three ground-breaking projects under development at Saudi Aramco: Tests have shown that a nano-agent if developed can travel into a reservoir and be recovered. This is a step toward creating ultra-small sensors that can be used to track water floods. Electromagnetic particles under development can be used to enhance cross-well electromagnetic imaging by acting as contrast agents. Protective coatings under development will aid enhanced oil recovery projects by delivering surfactants in places where heat would otherwise break down the chemicals. 2. Shell At Shell, nanotechnology is seen as an option for dealing with a wide range of extreme
Figure 2-Nanotechnology Applications for Upstream Oil and Gas

exploration challenges. New composites created using nanotechnology combining ceramics and metal, or polymers and metals, may provide lightweight options able to stand up to the extreme conditions found in the Arctic. Sensors using nanomaterials could be used for oil spill detection. 3. Baker Hughes Baker Hughes has released products for everything from reducing sand production in wells to a replacement for guar that can used to make fluids more viscous, without some of its 3|Page

Moses Ajemigbitse side effects. Nanotech expertise was used to improve the way the company makes diamonds for drill bits. Nanotech is for real. It is here. It is now. It is giving us products, said Guarav Agrawal,director of enterprise research for Baker Hughes. 4. Halliburton Halliburton Energy Services has developed a downhole seal element (static and dynamic) from a polymer composite that contains a number of nanostructures. The nanostructures fill regions of free volume within the polymer material, forming strong interfacial interactions that reinforce the structural integrity of the material during explosive decompression and additional downhole seal failures, such as extrusion, spiral failure, abrasion and temperature degradation.

POTENTIALAPPLICATIONS
1. Nanofluid technology promises large-scale performance gains from tight reservoirs Oil and Gas operators have been forced to use unconventional stimulation techniques in their extraction methods. One such technique based on a Nanofluid promises accelerated hydrocarbon recovery from tight formations as well as additional performance improvements that extend a reservoirs productive life. The Oil field has not yet adopted this technology on a large scale, but a research collaboration between Frac Tech Services and the Illinois Institute of Technology may change that soon. The concept works as follows: the nanoparticles in the fluid are so small that they are unaffected by gravity and so remain suspended. Due to their small size, the nanofluids can easily move into very tight formations without the need for an external pump. When they come in contact with an oil-rock surface (discontinuous Figure 3-Using Nanofluids in tight reservoirs phase), these particles self-assemble to forma thin film known as a wedge layer. This wedge layer exerts a pressure on the discontinuous phase, 4|Page

Application of Nanotechnology in Petroleum Exploration and Production called a disjointing pressure, which effectively works to separate the oil from the rock surface and carry it out of the rock pore (Fig. 3). 2. New Sensors for Improving Exploration In high-temperature/high-pressure conditions, old electrical sensors and other measuring tools are often unreliable. Changing and displacing old sensors in oil wells is very costly. But in the future, the industry may be using nanoscale sensors for probing properties deep in the reservoir, allowing us to unravel the complex nature of the rock/fluid interactions and their effects on the multiphase flow and providing the ability to design a suitable exploitation plan for the asset. 5. Nanomaterials Application The following have been identified as possible applications of nanotechnology in the Petroleum Industry Nanotechnology-enhanced materials that provide strength and endurance to increase performance and reliability in drilling, tubular goods, and rotating parts. Improved elastomers, critical to deep drilling and to improve drilling in hightemperature/ high-pressure environments. Designer properties to enhance hydrophobic or hydrophilic behavior, to enhance materials for waterflood applications. Nanoparticulate wetting carried out using molecular dynamics, which shows promise in solvents for heterogeneous surfaces and porous solids. Lightweight, rugged materials that reduce weight requirements on offshore platforms, and more-reliable and moreenergy-efficient transportation vessels. Nanosensors for improved temperature and pressure ratings in deep wells and hostile environments. New imaging and computational techniques to allow better discovery, sizing, and characterization of reservoirs. Nanosensors deployed in the pore space by means of nanodust to provide data on reservoir characterization, fluid-flow monitoring, and fluid-type recognition. Small drill-hole evaluation instruments to reduce drilling costs and to provide greater environmental sensitivity because of less drill waste.

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Moses Ajemigbitse

C.

OTHER APPLICATIONS

ENVIRONMENTAL APPLICATIONS OF NANOTECHNOLOGY

Nanotechnology may also contribute to making oil exploration and drilling a greener technology by addressing some of the potentially negative side effects of the oil and gas industry on the environment. Rapid advances have been made in environmental remediation and water treatment technologies with the use of nanotechnology as a platform. Nanotechnology can be used as a tool in protecting the environment, through applications in pollution prevention, and through the development of cleaner/greener technologies, to being used in the treatment and clean-up of water sites. Compared with conventional technologies, and taking into account the smaller amounts of materials required as a function of the increased surface area and reactivity, these particles can be produced at significantly lower costs. Particles such as nanocrystalline zeolites, carbon nanotubes and zero valent iron can be used to clean up a variety of contaminants of concern, including volatile organic compounds and metals, in diverse media such as sands and clay silts in ground water. Nanoscale zinc oxide and protein biochips, developed at Notredame University and Purdue University, respectively, can provide realtime monitoring of the presence of contaminants of concern in groundwater. Nano zinc oxide can also aid with removal of contaminants Nanotechnology-enabled products with a high affinity for oil could be very useful in oil spils and disasters. Potassium manganese oxide mats made of nanowires with pore sizes 20nm-wide are super hydrophobic mats that can be used for oil recovery, disaster clean up or exploration. Nanoscalezero valent iron (nZVI) is the most commonly used nanoparticle for environmental remediation. nZVI is an effective tool that can be used for cleaning up sites contaminated with volatile organic compounds (chlorinated compounds), to absorb or precipitate out metals (e.g. Cd, Ni, Pb, Cu, Hg, Cr, As), and for the surface water treatment of bacteria, metals, nitrates, sulphates and organics. Golder Associates has successfully used nZVI in numerous filed and large-scale studies throughout Canada, the US and Europe to clean up sites contaminated with a variety of contaminants (primarily chlorinated compounds and heavy metals). Sites where nZVI has 6|Page

Application of Nanotechnology in Petroleum Exploration and Production been applied have had >80% reduction in the contaminants concerned after two injections. This product has a great opportunity for use in the oil and gas industry for the removal of heavy metals in and around drilling sites.

D.

REFERENCES

Applications of Nanotechnology in Oil and Gas E&P by SaeidMokhatab,U. of Wyoming; MarielaAraujoFresky, Imperial College, London; and M. Rafiqul Islam, Dalhousie U. (JPT) Uses of Nanotechnology in Oil and Gas by Dan Jones. (O&G Next Generation) Nanofluid technology promises large-scale performance gains from tight reservoirs (JPT Online) For Nanotechnology, the Future is Nearly Now by Stephen Rassenfoss. (JPT Online) Applications of Nanotechnology within the Oil and Gas Industry by Sylvia ChanRemillard, Dave Kerr, and Lyriam Marques. (Exploration & Production Oil and Gas Review, Volume 8 Issue 2)

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