Feasibility Study on Using Nitrogen Foam to Control Water Invasion in Edge Water Reservoirs

Abstract

We have experimentally studied the effect of the concentration of the foaming agent solution, the permeability, the gas-liquid ratio, and the oil saturation on the performance of a nitrogen foam in plugging edge water. We used a numerical simulation of an edge water reservoir to study the effectiveness of water invasion control by injecting foam into one horizontal or three vertical wells. As shown by the simulation results, injection of foam into a horizontal well can significantly improve oil recovery and reduce water cut, while injection of foam into vertical wells is ineffective. Three factors were optimized that have a significant effect on field development. Adding a high-permeability band to the model demonstrated the applicability of the proposed field development method to heterogeneous reservoirs.