Performances of Different Recovery Methods for Orinoco Belt Heavy Oil after Solution Gas Drive

Abstract

Although foamy oil can improve the performance of solution gas drive in heavy oil, only about 5–15% original oil in place (OOIP) can be recovered under primary production. In this study, a series of micromodel flood experiments and sandpack flood tests were performed to evaluate the performances of water flooding, surfactant flooding, gas flooding, and foam flooding for enhancing the recovery of Orinoco Belt heavy oil after solution gas drive. Water flooding tests show that the sweep efficiency of water flooding was low as a result of the adverse mobility ratio caused by gas bubbles dispersed in the oil; about 10.57% OOIP was obtained in the sandpack study. Surfactant flooding tests indicate that the penetration of the surfactant solution into the heavy oil and the subsequent formation of gas bubbles and emulsified oil droplets in surfactant solution could reduce the mobility of water phase, thereby improving sweep efficiency, and oil recovery of 15.09% OOIP was recovered in the sandpack. Because of the viscous fingering, only 4.57% OOIP was obtained in the gas flooding test. The micromodel test of foam flooding shows that gas bubbles could reduce the mobility of the gas phase and the residual oil droplets could be pulled into oil threads by the viscoelasticity of gas bubbles, thereby reducing the residual oil saturation of foam flooding. The sandpack flood result shows that the oil recovery of foam flooding can reach 23.92% OOIP.

Utilization of Surfactant-Stabilized Foam for Enhanced Oil Recovery by Adding Nanoparticles

“…For the SiO 2 /SDS foam, the foam had lateral pressure on the pore wall, so the residual was extruded and pulled out. Lu et al 41 found that it was mainly because of the viscoelasticity of bubbles. Bubbles kept their spherical shape due to the adsorption of SiO 2 and deformed when they were in contact with the oil droplet.…”

CO2huff and puff for heavy oil recovery after primary production

“…In this study, it can be seen that foamy oil is also an important mechanism to improve the performance of CO 2 huff and puff. Because foamy oil can reduce the mobility of gas and provide tremendous energy to the system, the depletion rate of pressure in the micromodel for Run a was lower than Run b, as shown in Fig. .…”

“…Most researchers agree that foamy oil is the primary mechanism of the solution gas drive process in heavy oil . In foamy oil, gas is dispersed in high concentrations in the oil as small gas bubbles; however, although foamy oil can improve the performance of solution gas drives in heavy oil, only 5‒15% of the original oil in place (OOIP) can be recovered via a solution gas drive …”

“…For a CO 2 huff‐and‐puff process after primary production, the injected CO 2 acts as a pressure‐maintenance agent and enhances the oil recovery in heavy oil reservoirs. Previous studies have reported that a large amount of gas was separated from the heavy oil after a solution gas drive . The separated gas can influence the performance of a subsequent CO 2 huff‐and‐puff process.…”

Hydrophobic associated polymer based silica nanoparticles composite with core–shell structure as a filtrate reducer for drilling fluid at utra-high temperature

“…Details of the artificial core flooding apparatus and other apparatus used in this experiments can be found elsewhere[39]. The schematic of the microscopic drilling fluid displacement experimental apparatus is shown inFigure 3.…”