Geochemical evaluation of low salinity hot water injection to enhance heavy oil recovery from carbonate reservoirs  

作　　者：Ji Ho Lee Kun Sang Lee 

机构地区：[1]Department of Earth Resources and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University

出　　处：《Petroleum Science》2019年第2期366-381,共16页石油科学（英文版）

基　　金：financially supported by the Energy Efficiency and Resources of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) Grant funded by the Korea government Ministry of Knowledge Economy (No. 20172510102290)

摘　　要：Although low salinity water injection(LSWI) has recovered residual oil after the conventional waterflood, highly viscous oil has remained in heavy oil reservoirs. Hot water injection is an economic and practical method to improve oil mobility for viscous oil reservoirs. It potentially controls temperature-dependent geochemical reactions underlying the LSWI mechanism and oil viscosity. Therefore, this study has modeled and evaluated a hybrid process of low salinity hot water injection(hot LSWI) to quantify synergistic effects in heavy oil reservoirs. In comparison to seawater injection(SWI) and LSWI, hot LSWI results in more cation ion-exchange(Ca^(2+) and Mg^(2+)) and more wettability modification. Hot LSWI also reduces oil viscosity. In core-scaled systems, it increases oil recovery by 21% and 6% over SWI and LSWI. In a pilotscaled reservoir, it produces additional oil by 6% and 3% over SWI and LSWI. Probabilistic forecasting with uncertainty assessment further evaluates the feasibility of hot LSWI to consider uncertainty in the pilot-scaled reservoir and observes enhanced heavy oil production. This study confirms the viability of hot LSWI due to synergistic effects including enhanced wettability modification and oil viscosity reduction effects.Although low salinity water injection(LSWI) has recovered residual oil after the conventional waterflood, highly viscous oil has remained in heavy oil reservoirs. Hot water injection is an economic and practical method to improve oil mobility for viscous oil reservoirs. It potentially controls temperature-dependent geochemical reactions underlying the LSWI mechanism and oil viscosity. Therefore, this study has modeled and evaluated a hybrid process of low salinity hot water injection(hot LSWI) to quantify synergistic effects in heavy oil reservoirs. In comparison to seawater injection(SWI) and LSWI, hot LSWI results in more cation ion-exchange(Ca^(2+) and Mg^(2+)) and more wettability modification. Hot LSWI also reduces oil viscosity. In core-scaled systems, it increases oil recovery by 21% and 6% over SWI and LSWI. In a pilotscaled reservoir, it produces additional oil by 6% and 3% over SWI and LSWI. Probabilistic forecasting with uncertainty assessment further evaluates the feasibility of hot LSWI to consider uncertainty in the pilot-scaled reservoir and observes enhanced heavy oil production. This study confirms the viability of hot LSWI due to synergistic effects including enhanced wettability modification and oil viscosity reduction effects.

关 键 词：Low SALINITY WATER INJECTION Hot WATER INJECTION WETTABILITY modification GEOCHEMICAL reaction VISCOSITY reduction 

分 类 号：TE[石油与天然气工程]