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Relative permeability and capillary pressure curves for low salinity water flooding in sandstone rocks

Shojaei, M. J ; Sharif University of Technology | 2015

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  1. Type of Document: Article
  2. DOI: 10.1016/j.jngse.2015.04.023
  3. Publisher: Elsevier , 2015
  4. Abstract:
  5. Recently much attention has been paid to the use of low salinity water (LSW) as an enhanced oil recovery fluid. The change observed in recovery factor during LSW flooding is induced from changes in relative permeability and capillary pressure when different levels of salinity are used. However, a few researchers tried to evaluate how macroscopic flow functions depend on the salinity of the injected water. To this end, a series of oil displacement by water was performed on a sandstone rock aged with crude oil in the presence of connate water. The capillary pressure and relative permeability curves are evaluated from inverse modeling of the obtained pressure drop and oil production data. Then, the parameters of two capillary pressure and relative permeability models as a function of water saturation and salinity are determined. The results revealed that the exponents of flow functions as well as residual oil saturation changed linearly with the salt concentration. This showed wettability changed from mixed wet to a water wet condition. Moreover, the results indicated that the oil recovery enhancement is controlled by wettability alteration to a more water-wet condition and also IFT reduction
  6. Keywords:
  7. Low salinity water flooding ; Modeling ; Salinity dependent relative permeability and capillary pressure models ; Capillarity ; Capillary flow ; Capillary tubes ; Crude oil ; Floods ; Inverse problems ; Models ; Oil shale ; Oil well flooding ; Oil wells ; Petroleum reservoirs ; Sandstone ; Well flooding ; Wetting ; Capillary pressure curves ; Experimental ; Low-salinity water ; Oil Recovery enhancements ; Relative permeability ; Relative permeability curves ; Relative permeability model ; Wettability alteration ; Enhanced recovery
  8. Source: Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering ; Volume 25 , July , 2015 , Pages 30-38 ; 18755100 (ISSN)
  9. URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1875510015001705