Effect of Viscosity of Alkaline/Surfactant/Polymer on Enhanced Oil Recovery in Heterogeneous Sands

Abstract

New development in technology and the rise in world oil prices give promises that substantial portion of otherwise neglected oil can be recovered. Reservoir heterogeneity significantly affects both the oil production and the performance of injection wells in water flooding or miscible flooding projects, thus the influence of heterogeneity on the oil exploitation process has been a concern in petroleum engineering. Numerous laboratory experimental studies and field tests on Alkaline/Surfactant/Polymer (ASP) flooding have been done. In this research, the relationship between the viscosity of an ASP solution and oil recovery in heterogeneous porous models were studied. Twenty-four ASP flood tests were conducted using artificial models. These models were made to have different permeability variation coefficients so that ASP floods in homogeneous and heterogeneous reservoir can be compared Local materials in place of industrial materials were used. Four ASP solutions were prepared and used in the ASP flood tests. The effect on tertiary oil recovery as viscosity increased was investigated. For heterogeneous models, it was found that increasing the ASP viscosity from 1.00cp to about 2.56cp increased and improved oil recovery. Further increase in viscosity to about 3.6cp had no much effect on recovery, because increasing the alkaline concentration reduced the visco-elastic effect of the viscosity of the solution.

Synthesis and Characterization of Polymeric Surfactant from Palm Oil Methyl Ester and Vinyl Acetate for Chemical Flooding

“…Thus, it can be resumed that to obtain a successful chemical slug that is able to propagate into the formation once it is injected without losing its integrity and capable of producing ultralow IFT, the mole ratio of 1:0.5 is the optimum ratio for IFT reduction and viscosity control. Furthermore, the viscosity resulted was almost similar as the study conducted by Elraies, et al (2011) and Oladimeji, et al (2013). In surfactants, CMC parameter is very important.…”

Effects of concentration, salinity and injection scenario of ionic liquids analogue in heavy oil recovery enhancement

“…Previous study by Oladimeji et al, (2013) on viscosity effects of alkaline/surfactant/polymer on EOR have shown that increasing the ASP viscosity from 1.0 cP to 2.56 cP improved oil recovery. In addition, a similar work by Hou et al (2004) on ASP showed that when the viscosity was higher than critical displacement viscosity, viscous forces contributed on oil recovery.…”