A Comprehensive Study on Factors Affecting Preformed Particle Gel in Enhanced Oil Recovery

Abstract

: The Preformed Particle gels (PPGs) has been widely used and injected in low permeability rich oil zones as di-verting agent to solve the conformance issues, distract displacing fluid into out of sorts swept zones and reduce the perme-ability of thief zones and high permeability fractured zones. However, the PPG propagation and plugging mechanism is still remain unpredictable and sporadic in manifold void space passages. PPGs have two main abilities, first, it increases the sweep efficiency and second, it decreases the water production in mature oilfields. But the success or failure of PPG treatment largely depends on whether it efficiently decreases the permeability of the fluid paths to an expected target or not. In this study, the different factors were studied that affecting the performance of PPG in such reservoirs. PPGs were treated in different ways; treated with brine, low salinity, and high salinity brine and then their impacts were investigated in low/high permeability and fractured reservoirs and void space conduit models as well. From the literature, it was revealed that the sweep efficiency can be improved through PPG but not displacement efficiency and little impact of PPG were found on displacement efficiency. Similarly, on the other hand, Low salinity water flooding (LSWF) can increase the displacement efficiency but not sweep efficiency. Hence, based on above issues, few new techniques and directions were introduced in this work for better treatment of PPG to decrease water cut and increase oil recovery.

Where is research on fossil fuels going in times of climate change? A perspective on chemical enhanced oil recovery

“…These are cross-linked polymer particles, which received great attention recently, especially for hybrid EOR methods (see later). [76][77][78] These are used especially in mature oilfields, where high permeability zones are present due to fracturing, causing channeling, poor sweep efficiency, and high water cut. Unlike solid particles, gel particles are deformable, therefore easier to transport through pores.…”

Determination of Permeability Contrast Limits for Applying Polymer Solutions and Viscoelastic Particle Suspensions in Heterogeneous Reservoirs

“…The injected fluid tends to flow along the thief zones where little oil remains, which leads to ineffective circulation. , The low-permeability zones that are not well swept by the injected fluid become the main enriched zone of the remaining oil . Therefore, for high water cut oilfields, reducing the water absorption in the high-permeability zones and allocating more displacing fluid into the low-permeability zones to further recover the remaining oil have become long-standing problems for many petroleum professionals. , To address this problem, various chemical flooding methods have been performed in many mature oilfields in the world. − …”