Scaling up in situ combustion process for enhanced oil recovery in water-flooded light oil reservoirs from laboratory to field implementation

Abstract

Aiming at low permeability, high water content light reservoir with a recovery rate higher than 20%, an improved air injection enhanced heat flooding technology is applied by combining the combustion reaction flow and flue gas flooding mechanism. The method involves the injection of air into the reservoir, which reacts with the crude oil at temperatures ranging from 220 to 300 °C. This reaction consumes part of the oil, enabling effective evaporation and flow of the remaining oil. This process combines combustion reaction flow with flue gas flooding, using high-temperature oxidation reactions to mobilize residual oil. Experimental results from combustion tube tests demonstrate stable reaction fronts, peak temperatures reaching up to 550 °C, and a significant increase in recovery rates, reaching 73.8% in some cases. Field applications of this technology require maintaining high air flux and burning rates in low-permeability zones to ensure effective heat-driven evaporation. The geological model of the well group shows that the recovery factor of the target block can be increased by more than 20% by air injection based on the water drive recovery factor of 28%–30%. The oil exchange ratio can be less than 4000 sm3/m3 by optimizing the air injection rate and oxygen content. The research results provide technical feasibility for heat flooding to significantly improve oil flow and recovery in low-permeability light oil reservoirs.