Study of the applicability of foam for steam conformance control to conditions of the Karazhanbas field

Abstract

Thermal enhanced oil recovery methods are a traditional approach in the primary and secondary development of heavy oil fields. Despite the effectiveness of such methods, there are breakthroughs of working fluid into production wells due to the presence of high permeability channels, resulting in a sharp increase in the watercut and an increase in the bottom hole temperature.
 The article presents a literature review of the world experience in application of various steam conformance control methods. Based on the literature review, the applicability of foam systems at the Karazhanbas field was studied; core flood experiments were carried out to determine resistance factor and displacement efficiency. Obtained results confirm the formation of foam in reservoir conditions by increase in injection resistance during its filtration through core sample and visually at the outlet, the increase in displacement efficiency was 17,41%. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the study of the applicability of steam conformance control technology based on foam, which has not been previously studied and tested at any field in Kazakhstan.