Water Plugging Performance of Preformed Particle Gel in Partially Filled Fractures

Abstract

Preformed particle gel (PPG) treatment has been well-recognized as an efficient method to reduce excessive water production in fractured reservoirs. However, previous research on its plugging efficiency was mainly conducted in open fractures. In this paper, calcite-filled fracture models were designed to comprehensively investigate the water plugging performance of PPG in partially filled fractures which are extremely common in fractured reservoirs. Systematic plugging performance tests have proceeded under various calcite-filling conditions. The results show that the calcite particles can improve the breakthrough and retention of the PPG as well as the plugging efficiency. With increased size and concentration of the calcite particles, the PPG breakthrough pressure gradient increases, and the fracture permeability decreases. When the ratio of average calcite particle diameter to fracture width (RC) is small (0.15), the fracture permeability is difficult to be further reduced by increasing PPG concentration or PPG size. However, when the RC increases to 0.21, the plugging performance in fractures filled with more calcite particles or PPG particles, especially the latter, is better than that filled with larger calcite particles. This study provides new insight into the PPG treatment and will contribute to the water control in fractured reservoirs.

Ultra-Stable Silica Nanoparticles as Nano-Plugging Additive for Shale Exploitation in Harsh Environments

“…According to micromorphology analysis, the SiO 2 -g-SPMA could be served as the effective plugging materials for low permeating filter cakes. However, some SiO 2 -g-SPMA particles were detected in filtrate (Figure 6c), indicating that some smaller modified silica could pass through the large holes without trapped [45], also suggesting that the SiO 2 -g-SPMA dispersions were stable at 105 • C under a pressure of 3.5 MPa.…”

Preparation and Properties of Double Network Hydrogel with High Compressive Strength

“…Therefore, hydrogels can be applied to the field of water plugging in oil fields [ 13 ]. Although hydrogel has been used in the field of oil field water plugging [ 14 , 15 ], due to the uneven network structure of the traditional single network hydrogel plugging agent, it will cause permanent damage under external force, resulting in poor mechanical properties and the inability to meet the requirements of water–plugging strength [ 16 , 17 ]. In addition, the viscosity of the pre–polymerization solution before the formation of hydrogel is relatively high and cannot enter the underground smoothly to achieve the water shutoff effect during injection into the oil well.…”

Profile control performance and field application of preformed particle gel in low-permeability fractured reservoir

“…For low-permeability fractured reservoirs, a good profile control agent should have the following characteristics: injectable, good plugging performance, movable and pollution-free (Zhou et al 2017). At present, the common profile control agents for fractured reservoirs include polymer gel (He et al 2009;Lu et al 2010), preformed particle gel (PPGs) (Imqam et al 2017;Sun et al 2019), polymer microspheres (Hua et al 2014;Li et al 2019), etc. As to particles like PPGs or microspheres, it is required that the initial size of the profile control agent must be smaller than the pore throat diameter of the formation; the profile control agent must expand and have certain elasticity, and can produce deformation and breakthrough under certain pressure, so as to have the advantages of good plugging performance to achieve deep profile control.…”