MSc Petroleum Engineering

Examples of student MSc research projects

(Projects available vary from year to year and those listed below are provided as examples
of the types of subjects offered in previous years. Some projects are proposed by industry
and others by academic staff at Teesside University, but students with an interest in a
particular topic may discuss with their supervisor the possibility of creating a research project
on their topic of interest.)

Investigating the challenges for oil recovery from unconventional reservoirs

o When oil prices are high there is an increased interest in recovering oil and
gas from challenging resources called unconventional resources. The project
focuses on challenges encountered in extraction and production of
hydrocarbon from unconventional resources such as heavy and extra heavy
oil.

Assessing the reservoir rock/fluid interaction using zeta analyser

o Understanding the rock-fluid interaction is essential to describe the oil
recovery mechanisms. This will be more crucial when oil companies plan to
execute any EOR /IOR projects. Rock surface characterisation, namely
surface potential ions, play an important role in absorbing or desorbing the
polar species onto/from the rock surfaces. The strength of interaction usually
varies with the surface potential, rock types, polar species. This project
studies the different types of interaction between oil/water/rock using zeta
analyser.

Study of surfactant injection in oil reservoir to improve the recovery using

powder technology
o To have a proper management over oil production from reservoirs, one
should have proper lab data for interpretation. For both heavy oils and
unconsolidated reservoirs (challenging reservoirs), conventional flow
experiments, such as steady state relative permeability, centrifuge and
wettability measurements, are subject to several operational problems
(coring, blocking , sand production, equipment damages) and in many cases
the experiments abandoned with lots of unwanted costs and wasted time. In
the proposed methodology, we will focus on surface characterisation where
we extract useful data from powder such as rock wetting preferences and
strength of wettability alteration, reservoir responds to various water
compositions, contact angle. These under-developing methods can reduce
lots of costs and save significant time, both in the lab and in the field, and
they bring confidence to managers for the future field development plan.

Reducing CO2 emission in oil and gas industry: carbon capture, reservoir rock
challenges
o Amidst global warming concerns caused by the excessive amount of
greenhouse gases (especially CO2) in the atmosphere carbon capture
sequestration (CCS), which involves the capture of CO2 produced at primary
CO2 sources, is continually being embraced worldwide as the most viable way
to reduce CO2 emissions. In this project, the screening of the reservoirs
suitable for CO2 storage will be reviewed. The results will be evaluated using
a simplified model.
 Assessing the asphaltene precipitation in oil fields (lab-based (zeta analyser)
and modelling project)
o Petroleum fractions have very useful alternative purposes but asphaltenes are
very complex fraction with critical challenges. If it is well managed, asphaltene
has prospective applications. Simply, the presence of asphaltenes in a media
due to precipitation is not a challenging issue rather, the coagulation of the
precipitated asphaltenes lead to deposition in reservoirs, oil and gas pipelines
and storage tanks. The asphaltenes precipitation on rock surface can change
the rock surface characterisation. The change in surface charge is one of the
important aspects of asphaltenes interaction with rock. This project focuses
on reversibility of asphaltenes adsorption on the rock surfaces using zeta
analyser.

Investigating the EOR using nano-fluids(lab-based project)

o New type of fluids usually called smart fluids has become more accessible
for the oil and gas industry (Zitha 2005). Due to special behaviour of these
types of fluids, nano-fluid properties often exceed the properties of
conventional fluids. The interaction between reservoir fluids and rocks can be
altered due to adding the nano-fluids to the injected fluids. In this study the
interfacial properties of oil and water will be studied through measurements of
IFT and wettability alteration.

Study the effect of clay in water-based EOR techniques (lab-based project)

o The water injection technique is widely used by oil companies to increase oil
recovery. The main mechanism involved in water injection is reservoir
pressure maintenance. However, the performance of reservoir to water
injection varies by the rock composition, specifically clay content. Presence of
clay in the rock can have positive impact on the water injection if the proper
water composition is selected prior to the injection. In this project the effect of
clay content on water injection performance will be investigated
experimentally using contact angle and thermo-gravimetric measurements.

Application of CO2 injection in carbonate reservoirs (case study)

o The application of CO2 as an EOR technique has been implemented widely
for sandstone reservoirs and less widely for carbonate reservoirs. This
research focuses on the challenges in CO2 application in carbonate reservoirs
through a few case studies with the aim of finding and describing the main
mechanisms involved in this type of EOR application. Few experiments and
modelling using Eclipse are expected.

Asphaltene precipitation problem related to the gas and water injection in oil
reservoirs (possible lab work and modelling)
o Asphaltene deposits in reservoirs limit the oil production of wells as they block
the pores of the rock. This changes the wettability and modifies the
absorption of polar compounds including the deposition of organic materials
which impede oil migration (Faria, 2003). During the oil production,
asphaltene deposition can occur; there are several mechanisms involved in
asphaltene deposition, among them the change in reservoir pressure or
temperature, and fluid compositions are considered the main mechanisms.
Water and gas injection into reservoirs change the reservoir properties
significantly which may lead to drastic asphaltene depositions. In this project
proper evaluation will be performed to understand the mechanisms involved
in asphaltene deposition during water and gas injection into the reservoirs.
 Field development plan (case study - Eclipse modelling)
o This project demands data from oil companies. The production history,
reservoir model are required to develop a future plan for the reservoir under
study. In this project the development plan for the oil and gas field will be
suggested through sensitive analysis considering existing potential risks such
as reservoir heterogeneities, hydrocarbon reserves, well positioning.

Microbial enhanced oil recovery (lab-based project)

o According to recent surveys, more than half of the oil reserves remain
unrecovered. This significant amount of remained oil is the target of advance
recovery techniques such as steam injection, low salinity water injection as
well as microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR). MEOR involves the injection
and growth of microbes in the reservoirs. The microbes can consume the oil
as food and produce gases, bio surfactants, bio polymers where these
products can ease the trapped oil from reservoirs. In this project, few
microbes, nutrient, and their by-products will be selected to investigate the
technique.

Oil and gas production optimisation

o Gas lift modelling (case study using PIPESIM) and integrated solution
approaches.

Hydraulic fracturing (HF) modelling

o This project will examine the main parameters in modelling hydraulic
fracturing. Tt will be divided into three parts:
1st phase (gas) HF Non-Darcy flow modelling
2nd phase (gas-water) HF Non-Darcy flow modelling
Proppant drag force calculations for 2 phase HF flow.

Heavy oil production using emulsion flooding

o Heavy components of crude oil such as asphaltene, resin and wax are known
to improve the stability of oil in water and water in oil emulsions. We propose
a simple experiment to evaluate the effect of asphaltene content on the oil-
water emulsions. The experiment would use samples of crude oil, mineral oil,
and brine. Emulsions are prepared and studied if possible using image
analysis techniques.

Application of Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) in modelling of flow through

porous media
o Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) has been developed and successfully
implemented to simulate the fluid flowing through porous media. The
applications include modelling the ground water flow in aquifers, and oil and
gas flow in hydrocarbon reservoirs. This study aims to review the application
of the LBM method in the simulation of hydrocarbon flow through reservoir
rock models. The limitations and advantages of this approach will be
discussed. There are open source LBM codes, such as openfoam
(www.openfoam.org) that can be used to perform a flow simulation exercise.

Modelling of asphaltene precipitate formation using PVTi

o Asphaltene precipitation and deposition can cause severe problems in
different stages of hydrocarbon production and processing. Sudden changes
in pressure, temperature and composition of reservoir fluids are known to
cause asphaltene precipitation. Understanding the conditions under which
 asphaltene precipitate forms and accounting for it in the reservoir fluid models
is of great importance. This study uses PVTi software to look at the effects of
gas injection on asphaltene precipitation.

Gas lift modelling using PIPESIM

o Gas lift methods are used widely to assist oil production specifically from
deep reservoir layers. As part of the oil production system it is essential to
model the fluid transport from bottom-hole to the wellhead. PIPESIM software
can be used for wellbore modelling, design and optimisation of gas lift
processes. This study will build on the outcomes of a study performed by one
of the last years MSc students entitled Oil and Gas Production Optimisation-
Gas Lift Optimisation.

Study of the parameters affecting the minimum miscibility pressure for gas
injection processes
o An investigation of the minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) of any two fluid
pairs is crucial for understanding the phase behaviour of the two phase
mixture. Of practical importance is the gas injection processes in improved or
enhanced oil recovery processes. A number of key factors, such as the
composition of the two fluids as well as the temperature at which the fluids are
mixed, affect the MMP. This study aims to investigate the effect of reservoir
oil composition on the MMP for CO2 injection processes using PVTi software
and available data from literature.

Literature study of the correlations developed for reservoir fluid (oil and gas)
viscosity
o Accurate measurement or estimation of oil and gas viscosity is essential for
flow simulation calculations and hence field development studies. Oil industry
literature contains many correlations which were developed experimentally
and adjusted mathematically to predict the viscosity of hydrocarbon fluids
based on their other properties such as specific gravity and gas-oil ratio. This
study aims to review most of the existing correlations critically. A critical
review should involve an assessment of the proposed correlations in terms of
their predictability as well as dynamic applicability range.

Design of a membrane separation process for carbon dioxide capture from

natural gas
o This project will examine the feasibility of separating carbon dioxide from
natural gas using membrane processes. The project will investigate the
process design, energy efficiency, environmental factors and overall
economics. Simulation analysis will use Aspen Hysys to determine mass and
energy balance and also to optimise process conditions.

Applications of process fault detection in the petroleum industry

o This project will examine the use of reliability engineering tools in petroleum
operations and investigate how the returns from such investment can be best
quantified. In addition the literature in the field will be reviewed to determine
the most appropriate tools for given situations using published quantitative or
qualitative data to support conclusions.