The Performance of Polymer Flooding in Heterogeneous Type II Reservoirs—An Experimental and Field Investigation

Huiying Zhong, Weidong Zhang, Jing Fu, Jun Lu and Hongjun Yin
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Huiying Zhong: Key Laboratory for Enhanced Oil & Gas Recovery of the Ministry of Education, Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing 163318, China
Weidong Zhang: Key Laboratory for Enhanced Oil & Gas Recovery of the Ministry of Education, Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing 163318, China
Jing Fu: Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO 65401, USA
Jun Lu: McDougall School of Petroleum Engineering, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK 74104, USA
Hongjun Yin: Key Laboratory for Enhanced Oil & Gas Recovery of the Ministry of Education, Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing 163318, China

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-19

Abstract: The polymer flooding process has already been applied to the medium permeability type II reservoirs of the Daqing Oilfield (China) to enhance oil recovery. However, this process faces a number of challenges, such as the flooding efficiency, high injection pressure, formation blockage and damage, unbalanced absorption ratio, and economical justification. In this study, single-phase and two-phase flow experiments are performed to investigate polymer injection adaptability with natural cores of type II reservoirs. The enhanced oil recovery (EOR) effects of the polymer are studied by physical simulation experiments, and the results of application in an actual field are also presented. The results indicate that the flow characteristics and injection capability are dominated by the reservoir permeability in polymer flooding. Moreover, the adsorption of polymer molecules and the injection pressure gradient, which reflect formation damage, are affected more significantly by the concentration than by the molecular weight in type II reservoirs. Using the matching relationship, the injection-production process is stable, and additional oil recoveries of 10%–15% can be obtained in heterogeneous type II reservoirs with a high water saturation. This work is significant in that it further accelerates the application of polymer flooding EOR in medium permeability heterogeneous oilfields with high water saturation.

Keywords: polymer flooding; injection performance; residual resistance coefficient; enhanced oil recovery (EOR); Daqing Oilfield (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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