Will using LSASF Affect the Rock Properties of Sandstone and Increase Oil Recovery?

Abstract

Emerging techniques to enhance oil recovery combine injection of low salinity (LS) water with steam - the so-called LSASF. In this study, we investigate the effect of LSASF on rock properties for the Bartlesville Sandstone Reservoir. Three sandstone cores were prepared and tested as follows: reservoir core#12 (RC12) was flooded with. formation water (FW) and steam, RC13 was flooded with seawater (SW) and steam, and RC14 was flooded with LS water and steam. The permeability was measured before and after core flooding. A reactive transport modeling was performed to measure the effect of flooding the cores on permeability and porosity. Contact angle measurements were also conducted to assess the LSASF on the cores' wettability. The core-flooding experiments showed that the highest oil recovery could be obtained by flooding RC14 with LS water and steam, which was 64.7% of the OOIP, while it was 54.23% and 51.4% of the OOIP for both RC13 and RC12, respectively. The permeability measurements showed that the permeability decreased after flooding the cores with all the brines and the largest reduction was with the highest salinity. The reactive transport modeling agrees with the measurements.

Meeting Name

53rd U.S. Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium (2019: Jun. 23-26, Brooklyn, NY)

Department(s)

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

Contact angle; Floods; Rock mechanics; Sandstone; Steam, Enhance oil recoveries; Formation water; Permeability and porosities; Permeability measurements; Reactive transport modeling; Reservoir cores; Sandstone reservoirs; Water and steams, Oil well flooding

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2019 American Rock Mechanics Association (ARMA), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jun 2019

Link to Full Text

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