Wettability and Oil Recovery by Polymer and Polymer Particles

Abstract

AbstractWettability of the reservoir is a major parameter controlling the oil production profile during waterflooding, the breakthrough of injection water, the final oil recovery, and the residual oil saturation (Sor) trapped in the pore structure. Therefore identifying the wettability of the reservoir will lead to appropriate implementation of improved/enhanced oil recovery practices in order to improve the economy of the project.The initial wettability state of the reservoir rock has crucial impact on the performance of polymer flooding process. Polymer flow behavior in the porous media including pressure build up, polymer retention due to adsorption mechanism, resistance factor, and residual resistance factor can be affected by wettability of the porous media. This, in turn, would affect the technical and economic success or failure of the polymer flooding project. Unfortunately, in the petroleum literature there is very little data regarding the effect of wettability on oil recovery by polymer flooding.In this paper we investigate the propagation of polymer and polymer particles under different wettability states. The flow behavior of polymer solution including pressure build up, resistance factor (Fr), and residual resistance factor (Frr) are compared at different wettability states. Moreover the oil recovery efficiency by polymer flooding at different wettability states is presented in this paper.