By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Aug. 23 -- A startup service company plans to inject a mixture of nitrogen and carbon dioxide to improve oil recovery from a southern Michigan reef.
Government research has shown that the combination of gases with 10% CO2 is two to three times more efficient in recovering oil than pure CO2, said Daniel Kulka of K5 Holdings LLC, Okemos, Mich.
The company seeks a partner to drill two horizontal wells into the Clarence-35 pinnacle reef, a 40-acre Silurian Niagaran oil structure in Calhoun County, Kulka said in Houston at a meeting leading up to the Summer North American Prospect Expo.
K5 plans to move in a portable unit that burns propane or natural gas to form a nitrogen- CO2 mixture to be injected into one of the wells to reestablish a gas cap. Oil will be produced through the deeper of the horizontal penetrations.
K5 looks to apply its portable process to fields from which 500,000 to 1 million bbl of oil could be recovered. Existing portable units can deliver 2.5 MMcfd of injectable gas, and K5 is designing a 4 MMcfd version, Kulka said.
Clarence-35 has produced 290,000 bbl of oil, or 15% of OOIP. K5 expects to recover 15-40% of original oil in place after injecting gas for two months, Kulka said. Project implementation cost is $2.5 million.
