Optimization Study of Chemical Flooding for Heavy Oil Reservoirs : Effect of IFT Reduction
Ziqiang (Kevin) Guo
Login to View Article


Abstract:
In this presentation, sandpack and micro-model tests are presented which show that low IFT is not always good for heavy oil recovery. Linear stability analysis is given which proves that higher IFT can refrain the development of instability during heavy oil displacement. In this study, we can also see that two tube calculation of waterflooding of heavy oil indicates that the injected water moves faster in the larger tube than in the smaller tube; if interfacial tension is reduced, water moves even faster in the larger tube resul6ng in more non-uniform displacement; tube bundle simulation of the displacement of heavy oil shows that new water channels are developed during displacement and water breaks through earlier with ultra-low interfacial tension; lab scale numerical simulations also prove that capillary pressure plays an important role in driving the water from channels to unswept zones; more flooding tests with different IFT should be conducted to further study the effect of IFT during unstable displacement.