Optimization Design of Injection Strategy for Surfactant-Polymer Flooding Process in Heterogeneous Reservoir under Low Oil Prices

Hong He, Yuqiu Chen, Qun Yu, Xianli Wen and Haocheng Liu
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Hong He: College of Petroleum Engineering, Yangtze University, Wuhan 430100, China
Yuqiu Chen: College of Petroleum Engineering, Yangtze University, Wuhan 430100, China
Qun Yu: Research Institute of Exploration and Development of Shengli Oilfield, SINOPEC, Dongying 257000, China
Xianli Wen: Engineering Technology Research Institute of Xinjiang Oilfield Company, CNPC, Karamay 834000, China
Haocheng Liu: College of Petroleum Engineering, Yangtze University, Wuhan 430100, China

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 19, 1-15

Abstract: Surfactant–polymer (SP) flooding has significant potential to enhance oil recovery after water flooding in mature reservoirs. However, the economic benefit of the SP flooding process is unsatisfactory under low oil prices. Thus, it is necessary to reduce the chemical costs and improve SP flooding efficiency to make SP flooding more profitable. Our goal was to maximize the incremental oil recovery of the SP flooding process after water flooding by using the equal chemical consumption cost to ensure the economic viability of the SP flooding process. Thus, a systematic study was carried out to investigate the SP flooding process under different injection strategies by conducting parallel sand pack flooding experiments to optimize the SP flooding design. Then, the comparison of the remaining oil distribution after water flooding and SP flooding under different injection strategies was studied. The results demonstrate that the EOR efficiency of the SP flooding process under the alternating injection of polymer and surfactant–polymer (PASP) is higher than that of conventional simultaneous injection of surfactant and polymer. Moreover, as the alternating cycle increases, the incremental oil recovery increases. Based on the analysis of fractional flow, incremental oil recovery, and remaining oil distribution when compared with the conventional simultaneous injection of surfactant and polymer, the alternating injection of polymer and surfactant–polymer (PASP) showed better sweep efficiency improvement and recovered more remaining oil trapped in the low permeability zone. Thus, these findings could provide insights into designing the SP flooding process under low oil prices.

Keywords: surfactant-polymer flooding; enhanced oil recovery; injection strategy; remaining oil distribution; heterogeneous reservoir (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: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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