Experimental Study on Enhanced Oil Recovery Method in Tahe High-Temperature and High-Salinity Channel Sand Reservoir: Combination of Profile Control and Chemical Flooding

AbstractChemical enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes are usually used as additives for hydrocarbon production due to its simplicity and relatively reasonable additional production costs. Polymer flooding uses polymer solutions to increase oil recovery by decreasing the water/oil mobility ratio by increasing the viscosity of the displacing water. The commonly used synthetic water-soluble polymer in EOR application is partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM). However, synthetic polymers in general are not attractive because of high cost, environmental concerns, limitation in high temperature, and high-salinity environment. Guar gum is an environmentally friendly natural water-soluble polymer available in large quantities in many countries and widely used in various applications in the oil and gas industry especially in drilling fluids and hydraulic fracturing operations; however, very limited studies investigated on guar as a polymer for EOR and no any study investigated on its uses in high-temperature and high -salinity reservoirs. The objective of this study is to confirm the use of guar gum as a natural polymer for EOR applications in sandstone reservoirs and investigate its applicability for high-temperature and high-salinity reservoirs. The study experimentally investigated rheological characteristics of a natural polymer obtained from guar gum with consideration of high temperature (up to 210 °F) and high salinity (up to 20% NaCl) and tested the guar solution as EOR polymer. The results of this study show that the guar solution can be used as an environmentally friendly polymer to enhance oil recovery. Based on the results, it can be concluded that guar gum shows shear-thinning behavior and strongly susceptible to microbial degradation but also shows a very good properties stability in high temperature and salinity, where in low shear rate case, about 100 cp viscosity can be achieved at 210 °F for polymer prepared in deionized water. Guar polymer shows good viscosity in the presence of 20% NaCl where the viscosity is acceptable for temperature less than 190 °F. Also, the flooding experiment shows that the recovery factor can be increased by 16%.

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Surfactant Enhanced Oil Recovery in a High Temperature and High Salinity Carbonate Reservoir

Journal of Surfactants and Detergents ◽

10.1007/s11743-015-1735-1 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 18 (6) ◽

pp. 1043-1050 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Jijiang Ge ◽

Yang Wang

Keyword(s):

High Temperature ◽

Enhanced Oil Recovery ◽

Oil Recovery ◽

High Salinity ◽

Carbonate Reservoir

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Novel Enhanced Oil Recovery Method Using Co2+xFe2+1-xFe3+2O4 as Magnetic Nanoparticles Activated by Electromagnetic Waves

Journal of Nano Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/jnanor.26.111 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 26 ◽

pp. 111-116 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Hasan Soleimani ◽

Noorhana Yahya ◽

Noor Rasyada Ahmad Latiff ◽

Hasnah Mohd Zaid ◽

Birol Demiral ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Nanoparticles ◽

Enhanced Oil Recovery ◽

Oil Recovery ◽

Electromagnetic Waves ◽

High Salinity ◽

Harsh Environment ◽

Oil Reservoir ◽

Core Flooding ◽

Recovery Method ◽

High Pressure And Temperature

Research on the application of nanoparticles, specifically magnetic nanoparticles in enhanced oil recovery has been increasing in recent years due to their potential to increase the oil production despite having to interact with reservoirs of high salinity, high pressure and temperature and un-natural pH. Unlike other conventional EOR agents e.g. surfactants and polymers, a harsh environment will cause degradation and failure to operate. Magnetic nanoparticles which are activated by a magnetic field are anticipated to have the ability to travel far into the oil reservoir and assist in the displacement of the trapped oil. In this work, ferromagnetic Co2+xFe2+1-xFe3+2O4 nanoparticles were synthesized and characterized for their morphological, structural and magnetic properties. At a composition x = 0.75, this nanomaterial shows its best magnetisation parameters i.e. highest value of saturation magnetization, remanence and coercivity of 65.23 emu/g, 12.18 emu/g and 239.10 Oe, respectively. Subsequently, a dispersion of 0.01 wt% Co2+0.75Fe2+0.25Fe3+2O4 nanoparticles in distilled water was used for core flooding test to validate its feasibility in enhanced oil recovery. In a core flooding test, the effect of electromagnetic waves irradiation to activate the magnetization of Co2+0.75Fe2+0.25Fe3+2O4 nanofluid was also investigated by irradiating a 78 MHz square wave to the porous medium while nanofluid injection was taking place. In conclusion, an almost 20% increment in the recovery of oil was obtained with the application of electromagnetic waves in 2 pore volumes injection of a Co2+0.75Fe2+0.25Fe3+2O4 nanofluid.

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