A strong stability gel foam for water shutoff during oil and gas reservoir development

Abstract

In view of the short effective period of conventional foam for water shutoff during oil and gas reservoir development, a strong stability gel foam system is proposed in this work. By comparing the foam properties of different foaming systems, the optimized formulation of foam system is “0.3% SDS (sodium dodecyl sulfate) + 0.4% HPAM (partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide) + 0.3% SD-107 (organic chromium).” At 50 °C and 10 000 mg/l salinities, the volume of foam is basically unchanged after a short time of defoaming and finally remains above 70%, and the drainage half-life can reach 16 days. The polymer and crosslinker form a stable three-dimensional network structure on the Plateau boundary after foaming, which has good viscosity and viscoelasticity. The foam system has excellent temperature and salt resistance. It is appropriate for medium and low temperature shallow reservoirs. The foam system has a good plugging efficiency. It can effectively plug the fracture and improve the sweep volume, which has a good application prospect.