scholarly journals Experimental Investigation of the Effect of Polymers on Residual Oil Saturation

SPE Journal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (01) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heesong Koh ◽  
Vincent B. Lee ◽  
Gary A. Pope
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Flow Analysis ◽  
Reduction Factor ◽  
Residual Oil ◽  
Fractional Flow ◽  
Oil Saturation ◽  
Residual Oil Saturation ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Water Cut ◽  
Core Permeability

Summary Polymer flooding is a widely used commercial process with a low cost per barrel of produced oil, and hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) polymers are the most widely used type of polymer. The objective of this research was to better understand and predict the behavior of HPAM polymers and their effect on residual oil saturation (ROS), to improve the capability of optimizing field design and performance. The corefloods were performed under typical field conditions of low pressure gradients and low capillary numbers. The polymer floods of the viscous oils recovered much more oil than the waterfloods, with up to 24% lower oil saturation after the polymer flood than after the waterflood. The experimental data are in good agreement with the fractional-flow analysis by use of the assumptions that the true ROSs and endpoint relative permeabilities are the same for both water and polymer. This suggests that, for more-viscous oils, the oil saturation at the end of a waterflood (i.e., at greater than 99% water cut) is better described as “remaining” oil saturation rather than the true “residual” oil saturation. This was true for all the corefloods, regardless of the core permeability and without the need for assuming a permeability-reduction factor in the fractional-flow analysis.

New Method To Reduce Residual Oil Saturation by Polymer Flooding

SPE Journal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (05) ◽  
pp. 1944-1956 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehmet Z. Erincik ◽  
Pengpeng Qi ◽  
Matthew T. Balhoff ◽  
Gary A. Pope
Keyword(s):  
Polymer Solutions ◽  
High Salinity ◽  
Substantial Reduction ◽  
Deborah Number ◽  
Residual Oil ◽  
Oil Saturation ◽  
Residual Oil Saturation ◽  
Glycerin Solution ◽  
Polymer Flood ◽  
Water Cut

Summary Six coreflood experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of hydrolyzed-polyacrylamide (HPAM) polymer solutions on the residual oil saturation (ROS) in Bentheimer-sandstone cores. All six cores were first saturated with brine and then flooded in the following sequence: oil to zero water cut, brine to zero oil cut, glycerin solution to zero oil cut, polymer in low-salinity brine to zero oil cut, and finally polymer in high-salinity brine to zero oil cut. The first polymer solution had approximately the same viscosity as the glycerin solution. The first polymer flood was designed to maximize the effect of viscoelasticity on the ROS by flooding the cores at a high Deborah number (NDe), and, as expected, resulted in a lower ROS. The second polymer flood in high-salinity brine had approximately the same viscosity, but a much lower relaxation time, and the flood had a much lower NDe. Unexpectedly, there was a further substantial reduction in ROS during the second polymer flood. The lowest ROS after the second polymer flood was only 0.07. This is a truly remarkable result, considering that there was no reduction in interfacial tension (IFT), the capillary numbers were maintained below the critical capillary number for Bentheimer sandstone, and the viscosities of both polymer solutions were equal to or less than that of the glycerin solution.

Relationship between Residual Saturations and Wettability using Pore-Network Modeling

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prakash Purswani ◽  
Russell T. Johns ◽  
Zuleima T. Karpyn
Keyword(s):  
Contact Angle ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Network Modeling ◽  
Pore Network ◽  
Residual Oil ◽  
Residual Saturation ◽  
Oil Saturation ◽  
Pore Network Modeling ◽  
Residual Oil Saturation ◽  
Eor Processes

Abstract The relationship between residual saturation and wettability is critical for modeling enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes. The wetting state of a core is often quantified through Amott indices, which are estimated from the ratio of the saturation fraction that flows spontaneously to the total saturation change that occurs due to spontaneous flow and forced injection. Coreflooding experiments have shown that residual oil saturation trends against wettability indices typically show a minimum around mixed-wet conditions. Amott indices, however, provides an average measure of wettability (contact angle), which are intrinsically dependent on a variety of factors such as the initial oil saturation, aging conditions, etc. Thus, the use of Amott indices could potentially cloud the observed trends of residual saturation with wettability. Using pore network modeling (PNM), we show that residual oil saturation varies monotonically with the contact angle, which is a direct measure of wettability. That is, for fixed initial oil saturation, the residual oil saturation decreases monotonically as the reservoir becomes more water-wet (decreasing contact angle). Further, calculation of Amott indices for the PNM data sets show that a plot of the residual oil saturation versus Amott indices also shows this monotonic trend, but only if the initial oil saturation is kept fixed. Thus, for the cases presented here, we show that there is no minimum residual saturation at mixed-wet conditions as wettability changes. This can have important implications for low salinity waterflooding or other EOR processes where wettability is altered.

scholarly journals SURFACTANT-POLYMER FLOODING PERFORMANCE IN HETEROGENEOUS TWO-LAYERED POROUS MEDIA

2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Taufiq Fathaddin ◽  
Asri Nugrahanti ◽  
Putri Nurizatulshira Buang ◽  
Khaled Abdalla Elraies
Keyword(s):  
Porous Media ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Polymer Flooding ◽  
Water Flooding ◽  
Residual Oil ◽  
Oil Saturation ◽  
Reservoir Heterogeneity ◽  
Residual Oil Saturation ◽  
Layered Porous Media ◽  
Multiple Porosity

In this paper, simulation study was conducted to investigate the effect of spatial heterogeneity of multiple porosity fields on oil recovery, residual oil and microemulsion saturation. The generated porosity fields were applied into UTCHEM for simulating surfactant-polymer flooding in heterogeneous two-layered porous media. From the analysis, surfactant-polymer flooding was more sensitive than water flooding to the spatial distribution of multiple porosity fields. Residual oil saturation in upper and lower layers after water and polymer flooding was about the same with the reservoir heterogeneity. On the other hand, residual oil saturation in the two layers after surfactant-polymer flooding became more unequal as surfactant concentration increased. Surfactant-polymer flooding had higher oil recovery than water and polymer flooding within the range studied. The variation of oil recovery due to the reservoir heterogeneity was under 9.2%.

Validation of Gravity-dominated Relative Permeability and Residual Oil Saturation in a Giant Oil Reservoir

1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.T. Edwards ◽  
M.M. Honarpour ◽  
R.D. Hazlett ◽  
M. Cohen ◽  
A. Membere ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Relative Permeability ◽  
Oil Reservoir ◽  
Residual Oil ◽  
Oil Saturation ◽  
Residual Oil Saturation
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