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FEASIBILITY OF PLASMA PULSE TECHNOLOGY

IN ENHANCING PRODUCTIVITY OF THE OIL
FIELDS OF BARMER...

Conference Paper · January 2017

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 FEASIBILITY OF PLASMA PULSE TECHNOLOGY IN ENHANCING
PRODUCTIVITY OF THE OIL FIELDS OF BARMER, RAJASTHAN BASIN, INDIA

Rishiraj Goswami, Ravi Shankar Kumar, Ramesh Narukulla, Tushar Sharma*

Department of Petroleum Engineering, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology,
Amethi227405, India, Phone No- 05352704239
Email:tusharsharma.ism@gmail.com
*Corresponding author

ABSTRACT
Continuous exploitation of oil and gas has led to a rapid decline of hydrocarbon reserves
worldwide and posed a major challenge to the producers in regard to recovering the remaining
oil & gas. As such, the development of new technology has become imperative to satisfy the ever
growing and insatiable need for energy. Showing the way forward, Novas Energy has developed
a revolutionary Plasma Pulse Technology (PPT) which works on the principles of plasma
physics and helps in enhancing hydrocarbon recovery by clearing the formation damage and
increasing oil mobility. PPT has undergone successful field implementations and results have
shown a sustained increase in production as high as 85%. This paper aims to study the
intricacies of this technology in details and explore its possible aptness for the Barmer oil fields
by comparing the crude properties with those recovered using plasma pulse technology (PPT)
and available in published literature.

Keywords: Plasma Pulse Technology, Plasma Physics, Productivity, Crude Properties

INTRODUCTION
All major oilfields worldwide are in their declining stage of production and with each passing
year more fields are transitioning towards decline. Rapid industrial development over the years
has seen energy demands growing by leaps and bounds and to fulfill the growing demands for
energy, there has been a huge upswing in exploration and production activities (Hook et al.2009)
According to The U.S. Energy Information Administration's recently released International
Energy Outlook 2016 , the total energy demand will escalate by 48 % between 2012-2040. The
report forecasts that even though renewable energy sources will expand faster than fossil fuels,
but oil and gas will still account for 75 % of the energy consumption over the projection period
(International Energy Outlook. 2016).Even though the E&P reacted to increased energy demands
by making rapid strides in the field of secondary/ tertiary recovery processes and developing
unconventional sources of energy like shale gas and coal bed methane , a lot many issues are still
concerning-
 The amount of oil production using primary and secondary oil recovery techniques
remains around 25-50% of original oil in place (OOIP) and significant amount of oil is
still left in place.
  Although tertiary and EOR processes have been able to increase the recovery to around
65%, EOR techniques have still not been developed for unconventional reservoirs like
shale and very little information is available in this regard. Also no effective EOR
techniques have been devised for horizontal wells.
 The global economics of crude oil prices is also complicating the whole scenario. There
has been a rapid drop in crude oil prices since 2014 and according to the U.S Energy
Information Administration, this slump will persist till 2020. This has led to a slowdown
in the exploration activities and specially the secondary recovery and EOR processes
have been hit hard since these processes are very costly and the current oilfield
economies don’t permit their implementation.

All these factors combined along with the prevailing geopolitical tensions have led to
increasing concerns about the future of energy security in the world. The need of the hour
is to develop technologies that only aid in the recovery of more hydrocarbons from the
reservoir but also which are economically feasible.

PLASMA PULSE TECHNOLOGY (PPT)

The basic idea of this technology lies in the use of vibroseismic impact on oil reservoirs and
over the recent history, many oilfield technologies have emerged that utilize the impact of wave
vibrations on productive formations ( Maksyutin, 2014). High viscosity of crude oil is one of the
reasons for poor recovery and wave vibration and viscoelastic impact has a very positive effect
on reduction of the crude oil viscosity, especially in heavy oils (Burhanov et al.,2004)
The technology (Fig 1) works on plasma physics principles where a plasma pulse generator is
lowered into the wellbore and controlled by a central unit at the surface. The tool generates high
power shock waves which clean completed intervals followed by propagation in form of elastic
waves in the reservoir. The elastic waves initiate resonant frequencies that increase the relative
mobility of crude oil to water. The advantages of the technology are:

 Multiple increase in liquid aggregation

 Due to floatation, the oil drops are forced to the surface.
 Creation of fissures resulting in enhanced permeability.
 Applicable in all types of well profiles with proper conveyance techniques.
 Uses wave velocities which will not damage the well.
 Integration of stimulation and E.O.R processes in a single step.

Apart from these advantages, the PPT technology is also faster in comparison to the time
required for the implementation of other EOR projects. This treatment is done within a matter of
hours and the well goes back to production almost immediately. It is a clean and an environment
friendly process since it does not use any chemicals or water. In comparison other EOR or
stimulation methods like hydro fracturing involve the use of chemicals which may adversely
affect the environment. It is comparatively more cost effective since it can increase production
upto a distance of 1 mile away from the well, can increase the amount of recoverable reserves
and has no issues like temperature sensitivity,PH sensitivity and loss of chemical effectiveness.
(Propell Technologies Group INC; http://www.propell.com)

Fig 1: Plasma Pulse Technology (Chellappan et al.,2014)

SUCCESS STORY OF PLASMA PULSE TECHNOLOGY (PPT)

The PPT technology has been successfully implemented in over 200 wells around the world. The
success has been unprecedented with production increasing by over 500 % in some well and
sustaining for around 5-6 months on an average. A very few number of wells have reported
problems and on an average the treatment has been successful in over 97 % of the wells. The
average cost of the treatment on each well is around 1000 -20000 $ (U.S dollars) which is much
less than other EOR technique (Propell Technologies Group INC; http://www.propell.com).
Results also showed that this method was more effective in sandstone formation than limestone
formation (Fig 2) and the recovered oil after treatment showed an exponential increase in
comparison to the oil recovered before treatment( Zalawadia et al., 2013). Table 1 shows the
effect of PPT on some of the injector wells in Russia. The treatment resulted in significant
increase in production resulting in lower injection pressure.

Fig 2: Effect on PPT on different formations (Propell Technologies Group INC;

http://www.propell.com)

Russian Injector Well Results

Oil Fields Bbls/day Bbls/day Increase % Increase
(Before) (After)

119 728 609 511

Lomovoe
314 942 628 200
Poludennoe
Sutorminskoe 157 1080 923 588

Tajlakovskoe 31 376 345 1100

Arlanskoe 31 138 138 340

Turchaninovskoe 125 546 546 335

Muravlenskovkoe 1727 4396 2669 155

Table 1: Effect of PPT on some injector wells in Russia ( Propell Technologies Group INC;
http://www.propell.com)

APPLICATION OF PLASMA PULSE TECHNOLOGY TO OIL FIELDS OF BARMER

The Mangala oil field located in the Barmer region of the Rajasthan Basin is one of the largest
onshore oilfields in India. The oil high viscosity , high paraffinic content, a high pour point, high
wax Appearance Temperature (WAT) along with a high wax dissolution temperature. Other
issues like high CO2 content, sand production and a high water cut make this field challenging to
produce (Zalawadia et al., 2013)
The comparison between the crude oil properties of the Mangala Oil Field and the West Siberian
oil fields of Russia (Properties of Russian Oils and the Applicability of dispersants.2009)where
the Plasma Pulse Technology (PPT) has been successfully implemented shows the following
results:

S.N Crude Oil Property Mangala Crude West Siberian crude

s
1 API Gravity 27oAPI 30.95o API
2 Oil Viscosity 9-22 cp 22 cp
3 Wax Appearance 59oC 53o C
Temperature(WAT)
4 Pour Point 40-45oC 39-42oC
5 Wax Disappearance 80o C 75oC
Temperature
(WDT)

Table 2: Comparison between properties of Mangala and West Siberian crude(Properties

of Russian Oils and the Applicability of dispersants.2009.)

The comparison shows that the crude oil properties of both the fields are quite similar in
properties and by correlation it can be assumed that the Plasma Pulse Technology will work in
increasing the recovery from the Mangala Oil Field.
The application of PPT to Mangala oil field will result in:
 A cheaper alternative over the expensive thermal EOR and ASP flooding currently
employed.
 Easier logistics as the use of PPT eliminates the huge requirement for water in ASP
flooding.
 The actual increment in production can only be known by field tests but it is expected
that PPT will result in success since the crude properties of Mangala are similar to those
fields where PPT was successfully employed.
 Increased production from Mangala will boaster India’s energy security and GDP.
 CONCLUSION
Low crude oil prices have put forward a great challenge for the E&P industry. Development of
new technology which is both economically feasible and technologically advanced is the only
way forward. In the future, this revolutionary PPT technology can go a long way in achieving the
balance between economics, environment and technology and prove to be a game changer in the
field of oil recovery processes.

AKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to thank Mr. P.K Bhattacharya, Director, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of
Petroleum Technology, Amethi for his support and encouragement during the preparation of this
manuscript. We also would like to thank the organizers of PEDJP 2017 for providing us with a
platform for expressing our views and ideas.

REFERENCE
Burhanov, R.N. and Hannanov, M.T. 2004. Geology of natural bitumen and high-viscosity,
Textbook. Almetyevsk: AGNI.
Chellappan, S.K., Al Enezi, F., Marafie, H.A., Bibi, A.H and Eremenko, V.B. 2015. First
Application of Plasma Technology in KOC to improve well’s Productivity.Paper SPE-
175264-MS was prepared for presentation at the SPE Kuwait Oil & Gas Show and
Conference held in Mishref, Kuwait, 11–14 October
2015.http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/175264-MS
Hook, M., Hirsch, R. and Aleklett, K. 2009.Giant oil field decline rates and their influence on
world oil production. Energy Policy, 37 (6): 2262-
2272.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2009.02.020
International Energy Outlook.2016 .(http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/ieo/). US Energy Information
Administration. Report Number: DOE/EIA-0484(2016)
Maksyutin,A.V. 2014. Results of Experimental Researches of Plasma-Pulse Action Technology
for Stimulation on the Heavy Oil Field. World Applied Sciences Journal 31 (2): 277-280.
http://dx.doi.org//idosi.wasj.2014.31.02.14305
Propell Technologies Group INC; (http://www.propell.com/); 1701 Commerce Street, 2nd Floor,
Houston, TX 77002, US
Properties of Russian Oils and the Applicability of
dispersants.2009.(http://ec.europa.eu/echo/funding-evaluations/financing-civil-protection-
europe/selected-projects/properties-russian-oils-and_en).European Commission DG
Environment.
Zalawadia,H. and Pawde, C.2013.Case Study on Handling Paraffinic and Viscous Crude of
Mangala Oil Field of Rajasthan-India. Paper SPE 164670was prepared for presentation at
the North Africa Technical Conference & Exhibition held in Cairo, Egypt, 15–17 April
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