Laboratory Evaluation of the Plugging Performance of an Inorganic Profile Control Agent for Thermal Oil Recovery

Keyang Cheng, Yongjian Liu, Zhilin Qi, Jie Tian, Taotao Luo, Shaobin Hu and Jun Li
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Keyang Cheng: School of Petroleum Engineering, Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing 163318, China
Yongjian Liu: School of Petroleum Engineering, Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing 163318, China
Zhilin Qi: School of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, Chongqing University of Science and Technology, Chongqing 401331, China
Jie Tian: School of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, Chongqing University of Science and Technology, Chongqing 401331, China
Taotao Luo: School of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, Chongqing University of Science and Technology, Chongqing 401331, China
Shaobin Hu: School of Petroleum Engineering, Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing 163318, China
Jun Li: School of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, Chongqing University of Science and Technology, Chongqing 401331, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 15, 1-10

Abstract: During the process of steam thermal recovery of heavy oil, steam channeling seriously affects the production and ultimate recovery. In this study, fly ash was used as the plugging agent, and then a series of plugging experiments based on the results of two-dimensional (2D) experiments were conducted to study the effect of plugging the steam breakthrough channels. The experimental results show that the inorganic particle plugging agent made from the fly ash had a good suspension stability, consolidation strength, and injection performance. Because of these characteristics, it was migrated farther in the formation with a high permeability than in the formation with a low permeability, and the plugging rate was greater than 99%. After steam injection, it had a good anti-flush ability and stable plugging performance in the formation. In terms of the oil displacement effect, oil recovery in the formation with a low permeability was effectively improved because of plugging. The results show that the inorganic particle plugging agent could effectively control the steam channeling and it improved the development effect of the heavy oil reservoir.

Keywords: fly ash; steam channeling; injection performance; plugging depth; heavy oil (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: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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