EOR perspective in Mexico: A refinery approach extended to reservoir engineering for improvement of heavy and extra heavy oil recovery through a novel technology for permanent oil upgrading ( ISUT )

Current oil production in Mexico is facing a severe decline, which can be reverted either by exploration of new fields or exploitation of mature ones. The latter are the subject of this study, since gigantic volumes of residual oil are still inside the reservoirs after primary and secondary production. This volume can be accessed through application of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques. The objective of this paper is to set a perspective of EOR processes and to identify their potential for adding oil reserves by their application in Mexico. This potential is expressed as incremental oil volume, which can be recovered by means of innovative techniques such as the one introduced in this work: in situ upgrading technology (ISUT). ISUT process uses the reservoir as a high temperature reactor, in which heavy oil fractions, ultra‐dispersed nano catalyst, and hydrogen are injected into the reservoir. This injection mixture favours permanent oil upgrading. In this work, ISUT process is evaluated at a laboratory scale through reactivity tests and experiments conducted in a Catalytic Reactivity Process unit using a heavy oil from a Mexican naturally fractured reservoir located in the Gulf of Mexico. Based on the experimental work conducted in this study, it is concluded that oil viscosity and American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity can be permanently improved, with the advantage of no coke generation or solids precipitation. Results showed that it is possible not only to upgrade heavy oil but also to contact the oil that resides within the matrix with the application of this novel EOR process.