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Many EOR methods have been used in the past, with varying degrees of
success, for the recovery of light and heavy oils, as well as tar sands.
Thermal methods are primarily intended for heavy oils and tar sands,
although they are applicable to light oils in special cases.
Non-thermal methods are normally used for light oils. Some of these
methods have been tested for heavy oils, however, have had limited
success in the field.
Above all, reservoir geology and fluid properties determine the
suitability of a process for a given reservoir.
Among thermal methods, steam-based methods have been more
successful commercially than others. Among non-thermal methods,
miscible flooding has been remarkably successful, however
applicability is limited by the availability and cost of solvents on a
commercial scale.
Chemical methods have generally been uneconomic in the past, but
they hold promise for the future. Among immiscible gas injection
methods, CO2 floods have been relatively more successful than
others for heavy oils.
Although, EOR has been practiced for decades, and the petroleum
industry has actively cooperated towards the advancement of EOR
technology, there are still several challenges to the implementation of
EOR projects that must be overcome.
Some of the requirements for the ideal EOR flooding include among
others :
Appropriate propagation of fluids and/or chemicals (i.e. polymers or
surfactants) deep inside the reservoir rock.
Low or minimum chemical adsorption, mechanical entrapment, and
chemical consumption onto the formation rock.
Fluids and/or chemicals tolerance to formation brine salinity and
hardness.
Fluids and/or chemicals stability to high reservoir temperatures.
Polymers stability to mechanical degradation.
Advanced polymer mobility-control to improve sweep efficiency.
Efficient reductions of interfacial tension between oil and water.
Chemical Flooding.
Polymer Flooding
The pay zones were characterized by depths between 400 ft and 11 000 ft
with a 4000 ft average, by 117 F mean temperature with 229 F maximum
value, and by a good average porosity of 19 percent.
The rock permeabilities ranged from the very low value of 1.5 md to a
maximum of 7400 md with 453 md the mean value. The permeability
variation (Lorenz coefficient) ranged from 0.07 (practically a uniform
reservoir) to 0.96 (for a highly heterogeneous reservoir) with the mean
value being 0.69.
The viscosities of the reservoir crude oils where polymer flooding was
applied ranged from very low values to a maximum 435 cp with an average
value of 21.4 cp.
The water-to-oil mobility ratio ranged from 0.1 to 40, the mean value being
7.86. The water-oil ratio at start of the polymer flood had values
corresponding to water-free oil production rates (WOR = 0) up to a
maximum of WOR = 75 (water cut 98.6 percent) in postwaterflood
applications.
The polymer used in the majority of these applications was polyacrylamide,
and only a few projects utilized polysaccharide biopolymer.
Field Results
The maximum oil recovery was 14 percent of the original oil in place
(OOIP). The mean value was close to 4 percent of OOIP in 20 fieldwide
projects. In any case, the recovery was greater than with
waterflooding alone.
In 23 fieldwide projects, the maximum recovery was 143 STB/acre-ft,
and the mean recovery value was 34.4 STB/acre-ft.
There are now wellestablished guidelines for successfully applying
polymer flooding and for obtaining maximum recovery and additional
oil.
GUIDELINES FOR POLYMER APPLICATION
Reservoir Characteristics
Reservoir depth is a critical factor only when related to reservoir
temperature. Temperatures less than 200 F assure a stable polymer
solution.
Reservoir pressure is not critical if it permits the injection pressure to
be less than the formation parting pressure and is not so high that it
requires expensive pumping equipment.
The porosity of the reservoir rock must be medium to high (higher
than 18 percent) to assure a good storage capacity.
Absolute permeability of the reservoir rock is considered to be good
between 50 and to 250 md. Moderate permeability values (between
15 and 50 md) cause higher injection pressures. Permeability values
considered very good (between 250 and 1000 md) and excellent
(higher than 1000 md) assure higher recoveries with conventional
waterflood and leave polymer flood expenses difficult to justify.
The permeability variation concept connected with reservoir
heterogeneity is better than permeability alone for determining areas
of polymer flood applicability. Heterogeneous reservoirs are good
candidates for polymer flooding for two reasons.
- First, the polymer solution reduces the rocks permeability.
- Second, the solution has a tendency to divert toward unswept reservoir areas or
areas where waterflooding resulted in an unsatisfactory sweep.
Fluid Characteristics
The oil viscosity that directly controls the water-oil mobility ratio
should not be higher than 150 to 200 cp. Viscosity of less than 100 cp
is even more preferable. Thermal methods of recovery are competitive
when reservoirs' oil viscosities are high.
When they are low, less than 5 cp, waterflood and/or other EOR
methods may be preferred. The water-oil ratio at the start of the
project should be low, even zero. This will mean higher mobile oil
saturation.
Polymer flooding applied from the beginning as a secondary recovery
process instead of waterflooding will afford better chances of success
than waterflooding.
Reservoir Selection
As stated, polymer flooding is successfully applied as a secondary
recovery process when the mobile oil saturation in reservoir is still
high. The effect of polymer flooding is to improve areal and vertical
sweep efficiencies, reducing the water-oil mobility ratio and diverting
the injected fluid toward larger reservoir areas.
Polymer flooding does not improve the displacement efficiency, since
it has no effect on the existing capillary forces and interfacial tensions.
Waterflooded oil reservoirs can also be good candidates for polymer
flooding. This is only true, however, when the high WOR values are
caused either by a high water-oil mobility ratio (viscous oil reservoirs)
and waterconning or by a low vertical sweep efficiency
(heterogeneous reservoirs). Under these conditions, the reservoirs still
have high mobile oil saturation which can be reduced by the diverting
effect of polymer flooding and by the increase of vertical sweep
efficiency.
Therefore, the use of polymer as a tertiary method (after
waterflooding) is attractive only if the high WOR is due to
waterconning, high permeability zones or high oil viscosity. Large gas-
cap areas and extensive aquifers should be avoided.