Numerical and Laboratory Modeling of Smart Water–Polymer Flooding for Enhanced Oil Recovery in an Oil Reservoir in Southwestern Iran

Rostamzadeh, AliPanah; Mousavi Parsa, Seyed Aboutaleb; Mehdi, Faramarzi

doi:10.22050/ijogst.2022.335043.1633

Numerical and Laboratory Modeling of Smart Water–Polymer Flooding for Enhanced Oil Recovery in an Oil Reservoir in Southwestern Iran

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

AliPanah Rostamzadeh ¹

Seyed Aboutaleb Mousavi Parsa ²

Faramarzi Mehdi ³

¹ 1 Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Chemical Engineering, Yasuj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yasuj, Iran

² 2 Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Yasuj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yasuj, Iran

³ 3 Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Gachsaran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Gachsaran, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22050/ijogst.2022.335043.1633

Abstract

One of the most important methods for enhancing oil recovery in reservoirs is chemical flooding. The performance and efficiency of these processes in increasing oil recovery depend on several factors, including the rock and fluid properties of the reservoir. Therefore, a critical step in evaluating the effectiveness of these methods is conducting laboratory studies and calculating the potential of chemical agents to recover oil. Optimal design, using new approaches such as novel chemical agents or comprehensive studies of chemical flooding at the core scale, is essential to make chemical flooding more cost-effective.
For this purpose, a laboratory study combined with integrated simulation was performed to identify the effective mechanisms in low-salinity water–polymer injection and to determine the necessary and dominant conditions for improving recovery in Iranian carbonate reservoirs. Initially, four injection scenarios were tested in the laboratory: water injection–polymer injection–low-salinity water injection, water injection–low-salinity water injection–polymer injection, water injection–low-salinity water–polymer injection, and low-salinity water injection–low-salinity water–polymer injection. Subsequently, low-salinity water–polymer flooding was simulated using the Eclipse 100 simulator to evaluate the effect of polymer injection on oil recovery and oil trapping in the reservoir rock. Finally, simulation results were validated against laboratory data.
The results demonstrated that low-salinity water injection followed by low-salinity water–polymer injection showed the best performance, improving secondary oil recovery by 63.45%, with wettability alteration identified as a key mechanism for enhanced oil recovery. The study also showed that under optimal conditions, despite mechanical degradation of the polymer, recovery of initial oil in place could reach up to 85% through controlled adsorption of polymer on the rock surface. Furthermore, initial polymer injection was found to help reduce the amount of polymer required to achieve residual oil saturation.

Highlights

· Modeling of the smart water flooding process with polymer

· Laboratory study and simulation to understand the effective mechanisms in smart water injection with polymer

· Chemical enhanced oil recovery

· Polymer–smart water flooding demonstrated high potential for wettability alteration

· Polymer–smart water flooding showed high potential for increasing sweep efficiency

Keywords

Carbonate reservoir rock

Enhanced oil recovery

Low salinity water polymer flooding

Smart water polymer flooding

Wettability

Subjects

Petroleum Engineering

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