Investigation of feasibility of alkali-cosolvent flooding in heavy oil reservoirs  

作　　者：Yi-Bo Li He-Fei Jia Wan-Fen Pu Bing Wei Shuo-Shi Wang Na Yuan 

机构地区：[1]State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation,Southwest Petroleum University,Chengdu,610500,Sichuan,China [2]Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering,University of Oklahoma,Norman,OK,73019,USA

出　　处：《Petroleum Science》2023年第3期1608-1619,共12页石油科学（英文版）

基　　金：support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(52174034);the Sichuan Science and Technology Program(2021YFH0081).

摘　　要：Cold production is a challenge in the case of heavy oil because of its high viscosity and poor fluidity in reservoir conditions.Alkali-cosolvent-polymer flooding is a type of microemulsion flooding with low costs and possible potential for heavy oil reservoirs.However,the addition of polymer may cause problems with injection in the case of highly viscous oil.Hence,in this study the feasibility of alkali-cosolvent(AC)flooding in heavy oil reservoirs was investigated via several groups of experiments.The interfacial tension between various AC formulations and heavy crude oil was measured to select appropriate formulations.Phase behavior tests were performed to determine the most appropriate formulation and conditions for the generation of a microemulsion.Sandpack flooding experiments were carried out to investigate the displacement efficiency of the selected Ac formulation.The results showed that the interfacial tension between an AC formulation and heavy oil could be reduced to below 1o-3 mN/m but differed greatly between different types of cosolvent.A butanol random polyether series displayed good performance in reducing the water-oil interfacial tension,which made it possible to form a Type Il microemulsion in reservoir conditions.According to the results of the phase behavior tests,the optimal salinity for different formulations with four cosolvent concentrations(0.5 wt%,1 wt%,2 wt%,and 3 wt%)was 4000,8000,14000,and 20000 ppm,respectively.The results of rheological measurements showed that Type Ill microemulsion had a viscosity that was ten times that of water.The results of sandpack flooding experiments showed that,in comparison with waterflooding,the injection of a certain Ac formulation slug could reduce the injection pressure.The pressure gradient during waterflooding and AC flooding was around 870 and 30-57 kPa/m,respectively.With the addition of an AC slug,the displacement efficiency was 30%-50%higher than in the case of waterflooding.

关 键 词：Heavy oil MICROEMULSION Cold production Chemical flooding Displacement efficiency 

分 类 号：TE357.46[石油与天然气工程—油气田开发工程]