Most of the Russian oil fields consist of the complex reservoirs and it is required to apply secondary reservoir development methods, such as waterflooding, in order to increase reservoir development efficiency. However, for highly heterogeneous reservoir with viscous oil, "classical" waterflooding is not enough and there is a need to use enhanced oil recovery methods, one of which is polymer flooding. The prospects polymer solutions injection have been proved in different fields worldwide, including the East-Messoyakhskoye field at the PK1-3 reservoir with high-viscosity oil. At this field, polymer flooding pilots were carried out and taking into account the obtained field data, the geological and dynamic model were updated, which helped to improve the process physics understanding and evaluate the possibility of sweep efficiency increase during project implementation. This paper describes the challenges, difficulties, applied approaches, results and experience obtained in reservoir simulation of polymer flooding.

East-Messoyakhskoye is a giant oil green field, unique in terms of oil reserves, located in arctic conditions. The main distinctive field characteristic is viscous oil in the cold, unconsolidated reservoir. Understanding all the challenges of developing such reservoirs, a proactive study of polymer flooding began at an early field development stage. A lot of study and research has been done, including the full range of necessary elements. This paper summurises the first pilot project results, gained experience and achievements that allowed us to successfully implement the pilot project, confirm the prospects of polymer flooding technology and lay the foundation for further work.

Polymer flooding is a well-established technique aimed at improved recovery factors from oilfields. Among the important parameters affecting the feasibility of a large deployment, polymer retention is one of the most critical since it directly impacts the oil bank delay and therefore the final economics of the project. This paper describes the work performed for the East-Messoyakhskoe oilfield located in Northern Siberia (Russia). A literature review was first performed to select the most appropriate methodology to assess polymer retention in unconsolidated cores at residual oil saturation. 4 polyacrylamide polymers were selected with molecular weights between 7 and 18 M Da and sulfonated monomer (ATBS) content between 0 and 5% molar. An improved 2-fronts dynamic retention method along with total organic carbon—total nitrogen analyzers were used for concentration measurement. Retention values vary between 93 and 444 The sentence could be rephrased μg/g, with the lowest given by the polymers containing ATBS, corroborating other publications on the topic. This paper also summarizes the main learnings gathered during the adaptation of laboratory procedures and paves the way for a faster and more efficient retention estimation for unconsolidated reservoirs.

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