Saudi Arabian Oil Company

Cornell University

King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals

University of Michigan

Boston University

Aramco Services Company

Mazen Kanj

Emmanuel P Giannelis

Mohammad Harunar Rashid

Yun Chang

Modiu Sanni

Rami Ahmed Kamal

Howard Khan Schmidt

Jesus Manuel Felix Servin

Erika Shoemaker Ellis

Abdullah Awadh Al-Shehri

Sivabalan Sakthivel

Curt Thies

Yogesh B Gianchandani

Kamal Sarabandi

Shannon Lee Eichmann

Bennett B Goldberg

Thomas Gary Bifano

Scott R Green

Xianmin Zhou

Hari Prasad Paudel

Jun Tang

William Shain

Jiangfeng Wu

Yun Chea Chang

A method for modifying surface wettability of a surface of a solid substrate may include contacting the surface of the solid substrate with a brine solution containing carbon nanodots. The carbon nanodots may have carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen as constituent elements and may include one or more functional groups disposed at outer surfaces of the carbon nanodots. The brine solution has a salinity of greater than 30,000 TDS. A concentration of carbon nanodots in the brine solution is less than or equal to 500 ppmw. Contacting the solid substrate with the brine solution comprising the carbon nanodots is characterized by a contact duration, a contact volume, or both, that is sufficient to reduce the oil wettability of the surface of the solid substrate by at least 15%, as defined by a contact angle of a crude oil droplet contacted with the surface of the solid substrate.

Compositions and methods employing carbon-based nanodots for wettability alteration

A method for enhancing recovery of hydrocarbons from a hydrocarbon-bearing subterranean formation includes withdrawing hydrocarbons from a production well and injecting a treatment fluid that includes carbon nanodots dispersed in a brine solution from an injection well that is spaced apart from the production well. The carbon nanodots include carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen and are surface functionalized. A concentration of carbon nanodots in the treatment fluid is less than or equal to 500 parts per million by weight. Injection of the treatment fluid having the carbon nanodots is characterized by an injection duration, an injection pressure, an injection volume, or a combination thereof, that is sufficient to increase cumulative oil recovery of hydrocarbons from the first subterranean formation, the second subterranean formation, or both by at least 10% compared to injecting the brine solution without the carbon nanodots.

Compositions and methods for the use and application of carbon nanodots for deep-reservoir enhanced oil recovery

A sparingly soluble sulfonate-metal salt particle includes the metal ion salt of an alkyl aryl sulfonate, the metal ion salt of a petroleum sulfonate and a hydrophobically modified hydrophilic polymer, and has an average particle size diameter in a range of from about 50 nm to about 450 nm and is sparingly soluble in water at room temperature. A method of producing a sparingly soluble sulfonate-metal salt particle includes the steps of introducing an aqueous solution containing a metal ion salt into a reactor, introducing an aqueous solution containing a sulfonate surfactant and a polymer into the reactor, and operating the reactor such that the sparingly soluble sulfonate-metal salt particle forms from the interaction of the metal ion from the salt, the sulfonate surfactant and the polymer.

Controlled release of surfactants for enhanced oil recovery

Apparatuses and methods suitable for (i) measuring lithological or petro-physical properties of reservoir core sample including shale rock; (ii) evaluating the degree of formation damage caused by foreign fluid into formation; (iii) conducting dynamic experiments, such as water flooding, chemical solution flooding, and supercritical COinjection to displacing oil tests; (iv) simulating physical radial flow experiments using reservoir core sample(s) at conditions of temperature up to 150&#xb0; C. and pressure up to 6000 psi, are provided involving radial flow through the core sample(s) having at least partially hollow centers in an axial direction, up to annular axial cross-sections.

Radial core flooding apparatus and method for analysis of static and/or dynamic properties of reservoir rock

An electromagnetic energy source for emitting pulses of electromagnetic energy includes a sonde assembly having a first section axially aligned with, and spaced from, a second section. An energy storage capacitor of the sonde assembly includes an electrode mounted in each of the first section and the second section of the sonde assembly and operable to generate an electric field, and a capacitive charge storage medium mounted in each of the first section and the second section of the sonde assembly and surrounding each electrode. The sonde assembly further includes a fast-closing switch located between the electrodes of the first and second sections of the sonde assembly.

EMU impulse antenna

A fracture interrogation system includes an antenna adapted for placement in a subterranean wellbore and a plurality of pseudoparticles adapted for distribution with a proppant material into hydraulic fractures along the wellbore. The presence of the pseudoparticles in the hydraulic fractures is detectable by the antenna. The pseudoparticles can include a magnetoelastic resonator having a resonant frequency. An interrogation field excites the resonators at the resonant frequency for detection by the antenna. The same or a different antenna can act as the interrogation field source, and the system can be configured to operate in a talk-and-listen mode to better separate the response signal from the interrogation signal. Electromagnetic, mechanical, or acoustic impulses can be used to excite resonators of the pseudoparticles.

Interrogating subterranean hydraulic fractures using magnetoelastic resonators

The present invention relates to carbon-based fluorescent nano-agent tracers for analysis of oil reservoirs. The carbon-based fluorescent nano-agents may be used in the analysis of the porosity of a formation. The nanoagents are suitable for injection into a petroleum reservoir and may be recovered from the reservoir for the determination of hydrocarbon flow rates and retention times.

Carbon-based fluorescent tracers as oil reservoir nano-agents

The present application provides for an acid precursor capsule that includes an acid precursor that is a non-aqueous ester and a polymerized shell that encapsulates the acid precursor. In some embodiments, the acid precursor converts into an associated acid during a hydrolysis period while in contact with water at an elevated temperature. In further embodiments, the associated acid is soluble in water and forms an aqueous acid solution with water. In certain embodiments, the polymerized shell contains the acid precursor and prevents interaction between the acid precursor and water at the elevated temperature until the polymerized shell dissolves in the water during a dissolution period. An acid precursor capsule suspension can include the acid precursor capsule and a suspension fluid. In some embodiments, a method of treatment using acid precursor capsules is provided that includes the step of introducing an acid precursor capsule suspension into a well bore such that the acid precursor capsules contact water at an elevated temperature.

Encapsulation of an acid precursor for oil field applications

Embodiments of the invention provide an imaging system and method using adaptive optics and optimization algorithms for imaging through highly scattering media in oil reservoir applications and lab-based petroleum research. Two-/multi-photon fluorescence microscopy is used in conjunction with adaptive optics for enhanced imaging and detection capabilities in scattering reservoir media. Advanced fluorescence techniques are used to allow for super-penetration imaging to compensate for aberrations both in and out of the field of interest, extending the depth at which pore geometry can be imaged within a rock matrix beyond the current capability of confocal microscopy. The placement of a Deformable Mirror or Spatial Light Modulator for this application, in which scattering and index mismatch are dominant aberrations, is in an optical plane that is conjugate to the pupil plane of the objective lens in the imaging system.

Adaptive optics for imaging through highly scattering media in oil reservoir applications

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Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

Mazen Kanj