The main objective of the LRAP project is to create capacity and expertise in experimental enhanced oil recover techniques in Brazil by setting up a state-of-the-art EOR centre at COPPE/UFRJ. Ultimately, the project would make Brazil independent of many reservoir engineering laboratory data and services that it is currently sourcing from outside of Brazil. The project will benefit from the extensi
ve EOR laboratories and expertise developed over the past 20 years of research at Heriot-Watt University as well as from the new laboratorial infrastructure developed recently at COPPE/UFRJ. As part of this programme, some of the emerging and most promising EOR techniques will be experimentally investigated for enhancing recovery from Brazilian Pre-Salt carbonate reservoirs. The project covers both water-based EOR (e.g., carbonated water injection, smart water injection) and gas-based EOR (e.g., CO2 injection, WAG injection). As part of the proposed package, a number of high pressure/high temperature (HPHT) laboratory rigs including coreflood rigs, micromodel, and contact angle and interfacial tension (IFT) rigs will be designed, manufactured, and commissioned in Brazil. The laboratory rigs to be installed at COPPE/UFRJ will be capable of working at pressures as high as 10,000 PsiA and temperatures as high as 150 ºC, which exceeds the existing pressure and temperature of the current Brazilian reservoirs. Creation of a Brazilian EOR centre of excellent will enable COPPE/UFRJ to undertake multiple additional research projects in Brazil, with oil companies such as the BG Group. As well as researching the current generation of EOR techniques, principally water and gas injection techniques, the laboratory will be flexible enough to allow research in next generation EOR techniques, such as surfactants and nano-particle injection.