Dragon Pnueumatogen EOR - decarbonization #3

  EOR in an unconventional resource play that will take an ‘unconventional’ approach. Doyen Lab has an ‘out of the box’ strategy focused on increasing ultimate recovery and operational efficiency without the need of pipelines, compressor stations, and gas processing facilities for these ultralow-permeability unconventional formations.

The Doyen Lab approach was to understand how EOR works in a conventional play, identify the key factors for improved recovery and apply lean methodologies to problem solve to reach a EOR solution. Doyen Lab has modelled this approach on understanding blowing agents, a substance which is capable of producing a cellular structure with in a polymer or other material. They are typically applied when the blown material is in a liquid stage. Gaseous products and other byproducts are then formed by a chemical reaction of the chemical blowing agent. Decomposition occurs by adding an activator that reacts with the chemical blowing agent. The activator can be blended in with the chemical blowing agent or added afterwards. An activator is normally added at approximately 1% loading - a promoted catalyst decomposition process, a reaction with exothermic heat. . 

The Dragon Pnueumatogen by Doyen Lab is such a liquid. Stable to very high temperature. Available commercially with no major safety or health issues. The system entails two steps. First a stable fluid made from methanol is injected into the depleted formation. Then, step two, Doyen Lab LLC’s proprietary activator/catalyst is injected into the non-producing formation. The resulting reaction will produce heat due to the exothermic decomposition of the fluid into CO2 and an acid and infuse the co-product DME. Oil is soluble in DME and CO2 under the conditions induced through this process. The acid formed will react with any limestone generating further CO2 while decomposing structure. This conversion will cause a significant increase in the pressure within the formation as the single liquid Dragon molecule forms 2 or 3 gas molecules. This increase in heat and pressure, coupled with the dissolution by the DME and CO2, will reduce the viscosity of the remaining oil-in-place, while the increased reservoir pressure will provide the lift necessary to carry additional oil up the well bore as additional oil production 

The thermal decomposition of the Doyen Lab Dragon Pnueumatogen results in the evolution of high pressure carbon dioxide, acid and dimethyl ether gases, which are trapped in the formation to create holes in the matrix producing destabilization with high oil solubility. Since the blowing reaction occurs forming low molecular weight compounds acting as a gas, additional exothermic heat is also released. 

Once formed the low molecular weight compounds will never revert to the original blowing agent; the reaction is irreversible. The potential mechanisms include oil and gas mixing, which results in the volume of oil swelling and then expelled out of the pore space, into the fracture and then produced along with the oil to vaporize into the gas phase and then flow into the fracture and recondensate back to oil downstream of the fracture. Doyen Lab doesn’t know for sure the relative impact of each and there are other mechanisms that would be at play. 

Any limestone in the formation will act as an endothermic blowing agent in its reaction with the acids formed (absorbs heat but releases CO2) while Dragon produces heat while decomposing. In addition to blowing agents, the activator can be used to regulate their decomposition temperature (and thus rate of decomposition of the blowing agent). The “new” structure in the formation matrix reduces density, enhancing exfoliation, while decreasing relative stiffness of the original structure.

Doyen Lab believes the gas will migrate through the formation and contact oil-bearing rock using the same flow paths that are used for production. That includes hydraulic fractures that we initiate during well completion, natural fractures in the rock and the rock matrix. If the formation produces oil, lots of oil, we have high confidence we can get blowing agent gas in.