Numerical Simulation of Flaxseed Gum Potential in Improving Oil Recovery: Focus on Offshore Kazakhstan

Abstract

Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) entails modifying the water-oil composition in the process of recovering oil (Charoentanaworakun et al., 2023, El-Masry et al., 2023). One of the main techniques is the injection of chemicals to increase oil recovery. This method is crucial to extract trapped oil from mature oilfields, increasing their effectiveness and lengthening their lifespan. One reason for the rise in water viscosity can be attributed to certain substances, including high molecular weight polymers, gels, and composites that undergo in-situ cross-linking, which can cause this effect. Increasing water viscosity can technically reduce water mobility, leading to better sweep efficiency (Arshad and Harwell, 1985, Abbas et al., 2020) Chemical EOR techniques improve oil recovery by modifying the injected water phase by changing the reservoir's fluid-fluid and/or fluid-rock interactions. Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery (CEOR) methods utilize a chemical mixture as the displacing agent, which prompts an increase in the capillary number or reduction in the mobility ratio. The primary goal of chemical EOR procedures is to affect one of the following variables: mobility (by utilizing polymer solutions with increased viscosity), rock wettability, and interfacial tension between two immiscible phases (by applying surfactants or alkalis to the displacing fluid). The suitability of the chemical as a recovery enhancer is evaluated via the following parameters: it should enhance the viscosity of water while allowing it to flow through porous media and displacing more hydrocarbons; it should be functional for a reasonable duration of time without degradation; inhibit water fingering and manage the front pattern. Therefore, discovering such chemicals is supported by rheological characterization at various salinities, temperatures, and chemical concentrations. While the primary phase is comparable to the subsurface settings, it demands a meticulous evaluation of the flow behavior during dynamic flooding (Druetta and Picchioni, 2020). Despite their efficiency and low cost, most of the chemicals harm the environment, which increases the focus on developing eco-friendly chemicals that can effectively replace commonly used polymers like hydrolysis polyacrylamide (HPAM). This has led to the exploration of various natural polymers such as Arabic gum, Xanthan Gum, and Guar Gum, with encouraging results as shown by the research conducted by Saha et al. (2019) and Dessbesell et al. (2020). However, one major challenge in their widespread application is their accessibility and ability to endure diverse reservoir conditions such as temperature and salinity, as highlighted in Bento and Moreno's (2016) study. Despite the potential of these natural gums, the industry still needs to improve its implementation process, and some valuable sources of natural materials have not yet been fully developed.