Developing an Analytical Model to Investigate the Flow Behavior of Polymer Flood in Heavy Oil Reservoirs: Investigating the Effect of Salinity and Heterogeneity in the Reservoir Scale

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Faculty of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran

10.22078/pr.2024.5288.3343

Abstract

One of the leading challenges in developing heavy oil fields through water-based injection methods is early production of injected water and insufficient oil production. This event can result from unfavorable conditions of mobility, which is aggravated by the heterogeneity of the reservoir. In such a situation, polymer injection can provide a favorable potential for improving water-based injection methods. In this study, an analytical model has been developed to quickly predict the flow behavior of polymer solution at the core (fine) and reservoir scales. Moreover, to achieve this goal, first, an analytical model based on the Buckley-Leveret theory at the core scale was presented to design polymer flooding and to investigate the influence of the governing mechanisms on increasing oil recovery. Then, at the reservoir scale, the effect of heterogeneity in the form of the Koval parameter and the effect of salinity (seawater salinity and its diluted conditions) on the performance of the polymer injection methods were considered. According to the core scale results, polymer injection led to a 7% increase in oil recovery compared to seawater injection. In heterogeneous reservoir conditions, this positive performance was more significant and led to 12% additional oil production compared to seawater. Ultimately, regarding the effect of salinity, the obtained results showed the synergism of the low-salinity polymer flood method in such a way that, in the core and reservoir conditions, oil production was 12 and 4 percentages higher than that of polymer injection. Moreover, the developed analytical model is a suitable tool for designing the polymer flood process in different conditions of salinity and heterogeneity, which can be used to facilitate technical and economic decisions at the reservoir scale.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

[1]. Saboorian-Jooybari, H., Dejam, M., & Chen, Z. (2016). Heavy oil polymer flooding from laboratory core floods to pilot tests and field applications: Half-century studies. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 142, 85-100, doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2016.01.023.##
[2]. Wang, J., & Dong, M. (2009). Optimum effective viscosity of polymer solution for improving heavy oil recovery. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 67(3-4): 155-158, doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2009.05.007. ##
[3]. Lewandowska, K. (2007). Comparative studies of rheological properties of polyacrylamide and partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide solutions. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 103(4): 2235-2241, doi.org/10.1002/app.25247. ##
[4]. Kyani, A., & Hashemizadeh, A. (2022). Successful Case Studies on the Use of Polymers to EOR by Polymer Flooding. Journal of Petroleum Research, 32(1401-1): 24-50, doi:10.22078/pr.2022.4508.3033. ##
[5]. Kozaki, C. (2012). Efficiency of low salinity polymer flooding in sandstone cores, hdl.handle.net/2152/ETD-UT-2012-05-4974. ##
[6]. Shaker Shiran, B., & Skauge, A. (2013). Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) by combined low salinity water/polymer flooding. Energy & Fuels, 27(3): 1223-1235, doi.org/10.1021/ef301538e. ##
[7]. Nazarisaram, M. (2021). The effect of low-salinity water on wettability and oil recovery by core flooding test: a case study in the shadegan oil field. Journal of Petroleum Science and Technology, 11(2): 53-62, doi: 10.22078/jpst.2021.4636.1763. ##
[8]. Vermolen, E. C., Pingo Almada, M., Wassing, B. M., Ligthelm, D. J., & Masalmeh, S. K. (2014). Low-salinity polymer flooding: improving polymer flooding technical feasibility and economics by using low-salinity make-up brine. In International Petroleum Technology Conference (IPTC-17342). IPTC, doi.org/10.2523/IPTC-17342-MS. ##
[9]. Almansour, A. O., AlQuraishi, A. A., AlHussinan, S. N., & AlYami, H. Q. (2017). Efficiency of enhanced oil recovery using polymer-augmented low salinity flooding. Journal of Petroleum Exploration and Production Technology, 7(4): 1149-1158. ##
[10]. Unsal, E., Ten Berge, A. B. G. M., & Wever, D. A. Z. (2018). Low salinity polymer flooding: Lower polymer retention and improved injectivity. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 163, 671-682, doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2017.10.069. ##
[11]. Tahir, M., Hincapie, R. E., Foedisch, H., Strobel, G. J., & Ganzer, L. (2019, October). Potential benefits of fluid optimization for combined smart-water and polymer flooding: Impact on remaining oil saturation. In SPE Russian Petroleum Technology Conference? (D023S014R002). doi.org/10.2118/196763-MS. ##
[12]. Kakati, A., Kumar, G., & Sangwai, J. S. (2020). Low salinity polymer flooding: effect on polymer rheology, Injectivity, Retention, and Oil Recovery Efficiency. Energy & Fuels, 34(5): 5715-5732, doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.0c00393. ##
[13]. Dake, L. P. (1983). Fundamentals of reservoir engineering. Elsevier. ##
[14]. Mollaei, A., & Delshad, M. (2011, October). General isothermal enhanced oil recovery and waterflood forecasting model. In SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition? (SPE-143925). doi.org/10.2118/143925-MS. ##
[15]. Mollaei, A., & Delshad, M. (2019). Introducing a novel model and tool for design and performance forecasting of waterflood projects. Fuel, 237, 298-307, doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2018.09.125. ##
[16]. Koval, E. (1963). A method for predicting the performance of unstable miscible displacement in heterogeneous media. Society of Petroleum Engineers Journal, 3(02): 145-154, doi.org/10.2118/450-PA. ##
[17]. Jain, L., & Lake, L. W. (2014, April). Survelliance of Secondary and Tertiary Floods: Application of Koval’s Theory to Isothermal Enhanced Oil Recovery Displacements. In SPE Improved Oil Recovery Conference? (SPE-169055). doi.org/10.2118/169055-MS. ##
[18]. Jain, L., & Lake, L. W. (2013, September). Upscaling of miscible floods: An extension to Koval’s theory. In SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition? (D021S030R001). doi.org/10.2118/166400-MS. ##
[19]. Farajzadeh, R., Wassing, B. L., & Lake, L. W. (2019). Insights into design of mobility control for chemical enhanced oil recovery. Energy Reports, 5, 570-578, doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2019.05.001. ##
[20]. Lake, L. W. (1989). Enhanced oil recovery. ##
Journal of Petroleum Research
Volume 34, 1403-2 - Serial Number 135
Special Issues on Water-based EOR
July and August 2024
Pages 117-128

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics