Events

Speaker:  Dr. Birol Dindoruk, Principal Technical Expert/Team Leader in Reservoir Engineering, Shell International E&P

Title of Seminar: “DME as a EOR Agent: DME Enhanced Waterflood (DEW) Process””

Abstract: DME is one of the novel solvents that can be utilized effectively to recover additional oil, especially after waterflood. DME, in terms of some of the properties appear to be like propane. However, its highly water soluble nature makes it part of a unique group of solvents that can dissolve in both water/brine and as well as hydrocarbons (First Contact Miscible). Probably, closest rough analogue (in terms of known/tested systems) will be carbonated waterflooding.  In addition to these desirable properties, it is also easy to separate from the oil at surface facilities and recycle back to the injection stream. In terms of how it works is more related to how it transfers from aqueous solutions to hydrocarbons (i.e., reservoir oils).  In order to capture and quantify the mass transfer and its implications on volumetric properties and as well as and the transport properties, we have performed in-house experiments for the reservoir conditions of interest (in addition to extensive literature search).  In the second phase of the study, coreflood experiments were performed on a real reservoir oil. Finally, using the phase equilibrium data generated at our labs, we were successfully be able to represent the laboratory displacement experiments.

Biography:   Birol Dindoruk is a Principal Technical Expert/Team Leader in Reservoir Engineering working for Shell International E&P since 1997. He is also an adjunct faculty at the University of Houston, Department of Petroleum Engineering and a consulting professor at Stanford University Energy Resources Engineering Department. He is a global consultant for Fluid Properties (PVT) & Miscible/Immiscible Gas Injection EOR & Reservoir Simulation. Before joining Shell, he has worked at Amoco Tulsa Research Center on various compositional simulator development projects. He holds a BSc. degree from Istanbul Technical University, an MSc. degree from The University of Alabama, a PhD. Degree (with a minor in mathematics) from Stanford University, all in petroleum engineering and an MBA degree from University of Houston. Dindoruk is a recipient of Society of Petroleum Engineers' (SPE) Cedric K. Ferguson Medal in 1994 and Lester C. Uren Award in 2014. He served SPE in various capacities including as one of the Co-executive Editors of SPE Formation Evaluation/Reservoir Engineering Journal (2004-2006) and as one of the SPE Distinguished Lecturers for 2010–2011. He is selected to be a member of the National Academy of Engineers (NAE) in 2017, and concurrently in early February 2017,  he is also elected to be one of the incoming directors of the SPE. In addition to his professional SPE activities, he served as Editor-in-Chief (EIC) for Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering (2006-2013) and started serving in January 2017 as an EIC for Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering.