Abstract
It is customary, for convenience, to use relative permeability data produced at room temperature. This paper shows that this practice underestimates oil recovery rates and ultimate recovery from chalk rocks for high temperature reservoirs. Above a certain temperature (80°C in this work) a reduction of oil recovery was observed. The reduction in oil recovery is reflected by the shift of relative permeability data towards more oil-wet at high temperature (tested here 130°C). However, both IFT and contact angle measurements indicate an increase in water wetness as temperature increases, which contradict the results obtained by relative permeability experiments. This phenomenon may be explained based on the total interaction potential, which basically consists of van der Waals attractive and short-range Born repulsive and double layer electrostatic forces. The fluid/rock interactions is shown to be dominated by the repulsive forces above 80°C, hence increase fine detachment enhancing oil trapping. In other words the indicated oil wetness by relative permeability is misleading.
Highlights
Improving oil recovery is recognized as the major target and challenge at the different stages of an oil field development
Experimental oil/water relative permeabilities at room temperature (23°C) are used in order to isolate the effect of the temperature alone on oil recovery
In general from this work and the work done by Nakornthap and Evans [19], it may be concluded that use of room temperature relative permeability underestimates the oil recovery rate and ultimate recovery
Summary
Improving oil recovery is recognized as the major target and challenge at the different stages of an oil field development. Babadagli [1,2] compared the Energies, 2008, 1 recovery rate of different types of crude oil in naturally fractured reservoirs. He reported that the reduction in oil viscosity due to the high temperature fluid injection (hot water) accelerates the imbibition recovery rate. Babadagli and Al-Bemani [3] investigated the effect of steam injection on oil recovery of carbonate reservoir rock containing heavy oil. They showed that thermal expansion mechanism predominantly controls the recovery
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
