Primary and Secondary Oil Recovery From Different-Wettability Rocks by Countercurrent Diffusion and Spontaneous Imbibition

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Can Ulas Hatiboglu ◽  
Tayfun Babadagli
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Spontaneous Imbibition ◽  
Secondary Oil Recovery

scholarly journals Mechanism of active silica nanofluids based on interface-regulated effect during spontaneous imbibition

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu-Guang Song ◽  
Ming-Wei Zhao ◽  
Cai-Li Dai ◽  
Xin-Ke Wang ◽  
Wen-Jiao Lv
Keyword(s):  
Contact Angle ◽  
Interfacial Tension ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Dynamic Contact Angle ◽  
Liquid Interface ◽  
Spontaneous Imbibition ◽  
Wettability Alteration ◽  
Low Permeability ◽  
Oil Water ◽  
Solid Liquid

AbstractThe ultra-low permeability reservoir is regarded as an important energy source for oil and gas resource development and is attracting more and more attention. In this work, the active silica nanofluids were prepared by modified active silica nanoparticles and surfactant BSSB-12. The dispersion stability tests showed that the hydraulic radius of nanofluids was 58.59 nm and the zeta potential was − 48.39 mV. The active nanofluids can simultaneously regulate liquid–liquid interface and solid–liquid interface. The nanofluids can reduce the oil/water interfacial tension (IFT) from 23.5 to 6.7 mN/m, and the oil/water/solid contact angle was altered from 42° to 145°. The spontaneous imbibition tests showed that the oil recovery of 0.1 wt% active nanofluids was 20.5% and 8.5% higher than that of 3 wt% NaCl solution and 0.1 wt% BSSB-12 solution. Finally, the effects of nanofluids on dynamic contact angle, dynamic interfacial tension and moduli were studied from the adsorption behavior of nanofluids at solid–liquid and liquid–liquid interface. The oil detaching and transporting are completed by synergistic effect of wettability alteration and interfacial tension reduction. The findings of this study can help in better understanding of active nanofluids for EOR in ultra-low permeability reservoirs.

A Temperature Operating Window Concept for Application of Nonionic Surfactants for EOR in Unconventional Shale Reservoirs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
I Wayan Rakananda Saputra ◽  
David S. Schechter
Keyword(s):  
Crude Oil ◽  
Nonionic Surfactant ◽  
Cloud Point ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Nonionic Surfactants ◽  
Spontaneous Imbibition ◽  
Reservoir Temperature ◽  
Rock System ◽  
Temperature Operating ◽  
Operating Window

Abstract Surfactant performance is a function of its hydrophobic tail, and hydrophilic head in combination with crude oil composition, brine salinity, rock composition, and reservoir temperature. Specifically, for nonionic surfactants, temperature is a dominant variable due to the nature of the ethylene oxide (EO) groups in the hydrophilic head known as the cloud point temperature. This study aims to highlight the existence of temperature operating window for nonionic surfactants to optimize oil recovery during EOR applications in unconventional reservoirs. Two nonylphenol (NP) ethoxylated nonionic surfactants with different EO head groups were investigated in this study. A medium and light grade crude oil were utilized for this study. Core plugs from a carbonate-rich outcrop and a quartz-rich outcrop were used for imbibition experiments. Interfacial tension and contact angle measurements were performed to investigate the effect of temperature on the surfactant interaction in an oil/brine and oil/brine/rock system respectively. Finally, a series of spontaneous imbibition experiments was performed on three temperatures selected based on the cloud point of each surfactant in order to construct a temperature operating window for each surfactant. Both nonionic surfactants were observed to improve oil recovery from the two oil-wet oil/rock system tested in this study. The improvement was observed on both final recovery and rate of spontaneous imbibition. However, it was observed that each nonionic surfactant has its optimum temperature operating window relative to the cloud point of that surfactant. For both nonionic surfactants tested in this study, this window begins from the cloud point of the surfactant up to 25°F above the cloud point. Below this operating window, the surfactant showed subpar performance in increasing oil recovery. This behavior is caused by the thermodynamic equilibrium of the surfactant at this temperature which drives the molecule to be more soluble in the aqueous-phase as opposed to partitioning at the interface. Above the operating window, surfactant performance was also inferior. Although for this condition, the behavior is caused by the preference of the surfactant molecule to be in the oleic-phase rather than the aqueous-phase. One important conclusion is the surfactant achieved its optimum performance when it positions itself on the oil/water interface, and this configuration is achieved when the temperature of the system is in the operating window mentioned above. Additionally, it was also observed that the 25°F operating window varies based on the characteristic of the crude oil. A surfactant study is generally performed on a single basin, with a single crude oil on a single reservoir temperature or even on a proxy model at room temperature. This study aims to highlight the importance of applying the correct reservoir temperature when investigating nonionic surfactant behavior. Furthermore, this study aims to introduce a temperature operating window concept for nonionic surfactants. This work demonstrates that there is not a "one size fits all" surfactant design.

scholarly journals Polymer gels for controlling water thief zones in injection wells

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo-Adolfo Maya-Toro ◽  
Rubén-Hernán Castro-García ◽  
Zarith del Pilar Pachón-Contreras. ◽  
Jose-Francisco Zapata-Arango
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Water Injection ◽  
Injection Wells ◽  
Recovery Processes ◽  
Injection Water ◽  
Secondary Oil Recovery ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
Low Efficiency ◽  
Hydrolyzed Polyacrylamide ◽  
Positive Results

Oil recovery by water injection is the most extended technology in the world for additional recovery, however, formation heterogeneity can turn it into highly inefficient and expensive by channeling injected water. This work presents a chemical option that allows controlling the channeling of important amounts of injection water in specific layers, or portions of layers, which is the main explanation for low efficiency in many secondary oil recovery processes. The core of the stages presented here is using partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) cross linked with a metallic ion (Cr+3), which, at high concentrations in the injection water (5000 – 20000 ppm), generates a rigid gel in the reservoir that forces the injected water to enter into the formation through upswept zones. The use of the stages presented here is a process that involves from experimental evaluation for the specific reservoir to the field monitoring, and going through a strict control during the well intervention, being this last step an innovation for this kind of treatments. This paper presents field cases that show positive results, besides the details of design, application and monitoring.

MATHEMATICAL SOLUTION OF FINGERING PHENOMENON IN VERTICAL DOWNWARD DIRECTION THROUGH HETEROGENEOUS POROUS MEDIUM

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 483-496
Author(s):  
D.A. Shah ◽  
A.K. Parikh
Keyword(s):  
Porous Medium ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Analytic Solution ◽  
Variational Iteration Method ◽  
Approximate Analytic Solution ◽  
Order Partial Differential Equation ◽  
Heterogeneous Porous Medium ◽  
Fingering Instability ◽  
Oil Flow ◽  
Secondary Oil Recovery

Present study explores the Fingering (Instability) phenomenon's mathematical model that ensues during the process of secondary oil recovery where two not miscible fluids (water and oil) flow within a heterogeneous porous medium as water is injected vertically downwards. Variational iteration method with proper initial and boundary conditions is being used to determine approximate analytic solution for governing nonlinear second order partial differential equation. Whereas MATLAB is applied to acquire the solution's numerical findings and graphical representations.

scholarly journals Study on mechanism of spontaneous imbibition and pressurized imbibition in shale oil reservoirs

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lanlan Yao ◽  
Zhengming Yang ◽  
Haibo Li ◽  
Bo Cai ◽  
Chunming He ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Spontaneous Imbibition ◽  
Oil Reservoirs ◽  
Recovery Ratio ◽  
Shale Oil ◽  
Fracture System ◽  
Matrix System ◽  
Jianghan Basin ◽  
Shale Oil Reservoirs ◽  
Shale Permeability

AbstractImbibition is one of the important methods of oil recovery in shale oil reservoirs. At present, more in-depth studies have been carried out on the fracture system and matrix system, and there are few studies on the effect of energy enhancement on imbibition in shale oil reservoirs. Therefore, based on the study of pressurized imbibition and spontaneous imbibition of shale oil reservoirs in Qianjiang Sag, Jianghan Basin, nuclear magnetic resonance technology was used to quantitatively characterize the production degree of shale and pore recovery contribution under different imbibition modes, and analyze the imbibition mechanism of shale oil reservoirs under the condition of energy enhancement. The experimental results showed that with the increase in shale permeability, the recovery ratio of pressurized imbibition also increased. The rate of pressurized imbibition was higher than spontaneous imbibition, and pressurized imbibition can increase the recovery ratio of fractured shale. Spontaneous imbibition can improve the ultimate recovery ratio of matrix shale. Pressurized imbibition can increase the recovery contribution of macroporous and mesoporous.

scholarly journals Impact of Brine Composition and Concentration on Capillary Pressure and Residual Oil Saturation in Limestone Core Samples

2019 ◽  
Vol 89 ◽  
pp. 02006
Author(s):  
F. Feldmann ◽  
A. M. AlSumaiti ◽  
S. K. Masalmeh ◽  
W. S. AlAmeri ◽  
S. Oedai
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
Spontaneous Imbibition ◽  
Oil Saturation ◽  
Salinity Effect ◽  
Connate Water ◽  
Low Salinity ◽  
Remaining Oil ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Secondary Mode

Low salinity water flooding (LSF) is a relatively simple and cheap EOR technique in which the salinit y of the injected water is optimized (by desalination and/or modification) to improve oil recovery over conventional waterflooding. Extensive laboratory experiments investigating the effect of LSF are available in the literature. Sulfate-rich as well as diluted brines have shown promising potential to increase oil production in limestone core samples. To quantify the low salinity effect, spontaneous imbibition and/or tertiary waterflooding experiments have been reported. For the first time in literature, this paper presents a comprehensive study of the centrifuge technique to investigate low salinity effect in carbonate samples. The study is divided into three parts. At first, a comprehensive screening was performed on the impact of different connate water and imbibition brine compositions/combinations on the spontaneous imbibition behavior. Second, the subsequent forced imbibition of the samples using the centrifuge method to investigate the impact of brine compositions on residual saturations and capillary pressure. Finally, three unsteady-state (USS) core floodings were conducted in order to examine the potential of the different brines to increase oil recovery in secondary mode (brine injection at connate water saturation) and tertiary mode (exchange of injection brine at mature recovery stage). The experiments were performed using Indiana limestone outcrops. The main conclusions of the study are spontaneous imbibition experiments only showed oil recovery in case the salinity of the imbibing water (IW) is lower than the salinity of the connate water (CW). No oil production was observed when the imbibing water had a higher salinity than the connate water or the salinity of the connate water and imbibing brine were identical. Moreover, the spontaneous imbibition experiments indicated that diluting the salinity of the imbibing water has a larger potential to spontaneously recover oil than the introduction of sulfate-rich sea water. The centrifuge experiments confirmed a connection between the overall salinity and oil recovery. As the salinity of the imbibing brines decreases, the capillary imbibition pressure curves showed an increasing water-wetting tendency and simultaneous reduction of the remaining oil saturation. The lowest remaining oil saturation was obtained for diluted sea water as CW and IW. The core flooding experiments reflected the results of the spontaneous imbibition and centrifuge experiments. Injecting brine at a rate of 0.05 cc/min, sea water and especially diluted sea water resulted in a significant higher oil recovery compared to formation brine. Moreover, when comparing secondary mode experiments, the remaining oil saturation after flooding by diluted sea water, sea water and formation water was 30.6 %, 35.5 % and 37.4 %, respectively. In tertiary injection mode, sea water did not lead to extra oil recovery while diluted sea water led to an additional oil recovery of 5.6 % in one out of two tertiary injection applications.

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