Technology Comparison of SiO2 Nanoparticles for Enhanced Oil Recovery in Fang Oilfield

Abstract

AbstractFor more than 60 years of primary production, the Fang oilfield has less oil recovery. The production can be upgraded more with the water flooding and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods. However, in this area, the suitable technologies have not been studied for commercial production yet. SiO2 nanoparticle is another pattern of chemical EOR (CEOR) to reduce the limitation of traditional CEOR techniques. The utilization of nanotechnology can provide the potential for producing more petroleum. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate ability of nanosilica flooding in Fang oilfield and compare oil production with the conventional water flooding and natural flow by using simulation results with ECLIPSE. Also, the more parameters like injection rate and injection period have been studied. The results show that nanosilica can provide the highest recovery compared to both conventional techniques. Besides, the injection rates at 159 m3/day gives the highest oil production for 35.2%. For the injection period of nano-fluid, at low-injection rate, the result of different injection period is insignificant. But for higher injection rate, the difference in injection period can be observed with less than 1% difference. Therefore, the shorter injection period can be the better choice for field development for the future production. Moreover, this study can be used as a reference for the SiO2 nanoparticle application in this oilfield in future.KeywordsEnhanced oil recoverySimulationNanoparticle