APPLICATION OF HYDROGELS FOR CONFORMANCE CONTROL AND FLOW DIVERSION

Abstract

The use of hydrogels in the development of oil fields by the flooding method has firmly established itself in the oil industry, and this direction is constantly evolving in all oil-producing countries around the world, as evidenced by the growth of publication and patent activity on this topic. Operations for conformance control and flow diversion are impossible to imagine without the use of gel technologies today. Inorganic, organic, and hybrid gels, as well as foam gels, gel-forming and gel-dispersed systems are used.The ability to widely regulate structural-mechanical properties, thermal stability, and shear resistance through the introduction of micro- and nano-sized additives has made hydrogels indispensable tools for petroleum engineers.In this review, modern trends in the use of hydrogels for flow diversion from injection wells are identified, and the most promising directions are explored in light of depleted reservoirs and deterioration in the structure of oil reserves. Geological prerequisites for using hydrogels for flow diversion during field development are discussed, including hydrogels based on a range of acrylamide polymers, sedimentary-gel-forming and gel-dispersed compositions, as well as gels based on inorganic compounds.Various gel-forming compositions based on water-soluble and waterswelling polymers, as well as silicon and aluminum-based inorganic compounds, are used for flow diversion and conformance control. Combining gels with dispersed materials and sedimentary compositions allows for the strengthening of the structural-mechanical properties of the flow-diverting system, making it possible to apply these compositions in fractured-porous collectors. The ability to regulate the gelforming time allows for placement of the gel screen at a specified distance from the injection wellbore. This approach has firmly established itself in industrial practice and continues to be improved in terms of reducing the cost of used compositions and increasing their effectiveness.