Areal Sweep Efficiency Improvement by Integrating Preformed Particle Gel and Low Salinity Water Flooding in Fractured Reservoirs

Abstract

The oil recovery from fractured reservoirs is usually low, which is usually caused by the existence of areal formation heterogeneity. Two existing enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technologies, low salinity water flooding (LSWF) and preformed particle gel treatment (PPG), have recently drawn great interest from the oil industry. We integrated both of these technologies into one process to improve both oil displacement and areal sweep efficiency. The objective of this study was to test how the integrated method could be used effectively to increase oil recovery and control water production. The semi-transparent five-spot models, which were made of sandstone cores and acrylic plates, were built. We investigated the effect of four parameters on the improvement of oil recovery and areal sweep efficiency of oil, including gel strength, water salinity, injection rate, and number of fractures. Two approaches were followed during core flooding, sequential mode and mixed mode. The result shows that PPG and LSW injected together as one mixture improved oil recovery factor more than the first approach. PPGs plugged the fractures and successfully improved areal sweep efficiency; however, they have little effect on displacement efficiency. LWSF increased displacement efficiency but had little or no effect on sweep efficiency. The integrated methods bypassed the limitations of each method when used individually and improved both displacement and sweep efficiency.

Department(s)

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering

Comments

The authors would like to express their grateful acknowledgment the financial support from DOE under the contract of DE -FE0024558.

Keywords and Phrases

Areal sweep efficiency; Fractured reservoir; Gel Treatment; Low salinity waterflooding

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0016-2361

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jun 2018

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