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Effect of small scale flow barriers heterogeneities and connate water on displacement efficiency of polymer floods to heavy oil reservoirs

Mohammadi, S ; Sharif University Of Technology

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  1. Type of Document: Article
  2. DOI: 10.1002/cjce.21804
  3. Abstract:
  4. This work concerns a fundamental understanding of how heterogeneities induced by flow barriers and connate water affect the displacement efficiency of polymer floods, which has rarely been studied in the available literature. Here, a series of water/polymer injection experiments to heavy oil performed on five-spot glass micromodels containing randomly distributed shale structures is presented. It has been found that macroscopic efficiency of polymer flooding majorly depends on flow barriers distribution/configuration; shale content and geometrical characteristics; presence of connate water and wettability of medium. Microscopic pictures revealed that the main parts of connate water were trapped in some pores/throats near and especially behind the shale streaks; also, presence of connate water causes a reduction of sweep efficiency due to premature breakthrough of displacing fluid in an oil-wet media. In absence of connate water, polymer solution could linger and stick to the pore walls to delay the time for a polymer to channel to the production site. Results of this work disclose requirements for a detailed geologic study of barrier size and distribution for successful design of EOR processes in heterogeneous reservoirs
  5. Keywords:
  6. Displacement efficiency ; Flow barriers ; Heavy oil ; Heterogeneity ; Micromodel ; Polymer floods ; Crude oil ; Floods ; Heavy oil production ; Oil shale ; Petroleum reservoirs ; Shale ; Efficiency
  7. Source: Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering ; Vol. 91, issue. 10 , October , 2013 , p. 1729-1740 ; ISSN: 00084034
  8. URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cjce.21804/abstract