Porous media flow of polymeric nanofluids in multilayered formations: a simulation study

Abstract

ABSTRACT The injection of viscoelastic fluids into the oil-bearing formations to push the bypassed and entrapped oil toward the producers is a widely accepted technique known for creating a stable displacement front and piston-like displacement, leading to Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). However, the sweep efficiency of such complex fluids in stratified formations is still a topic of debate in the literature and is problematic, particularly in harsh reservoir conditions. This research concerns how the inclusion of nanoparticles into the polymer solution could affect the porous media flow of polymeric fluids in multilayered reservoirs. Accordingly, validated core-scale numerical models for polymer flood and polymer nanohybrid flood were upscaled to develop a reservoir-scale model. Through numerical simulations using a compositional reservoir simulator, the simultaneous flow of crude oil and polymer nanohybrids in both low and high-permeable layers of the reservoir were scrutinized. The numerical outputs showed that, compared with polymer flood, the flow dynamics of the polymer nanohybrids in different layers of the reservoir are more favorable, which resulted in improved oil recovery of over 20% of Residual Oil In Place (ROIP). Additionally, our numerical findings indicated that the polymer nanohybrids could exhibit lower polymer adsorption and acceptable salt tolerance in porous media.