Smart WaterFlooding for Carbonate Reservoirs: Salinity and Role of Ions

Author:

Yousef Ali A.1,Al-Saleh Salah1,Al-Jawfi Mohammed1

Affiliation:

1. Saudi Aramco

Abstract

AbstractThe salinity level of injection water in the past has not been considered as a key parameter in oil recovery from water-flooded reservoirs. In the recent years, extensive research on oil/brine/rock systems has shown that injection low salinity brines has a significant impact on the amount of oil recovered. Although, the potential for carbonates has not been thoroughly investigated, some reported studies have excluded carbonates from this effect.Saudi Aramco through its upstream research arm (the Advanced Research Center) has initiated a strategic research program tagged "Smart WaterFlood" to explore the potential of increasing oil recovery by tuning the injection water properties. Based on the research work for the last three years, we demonstrated in a previous report (SPE 137634) that substantial oil recovery beyond conventional waterflooding from carbonates can be achieved by optimizing the salinity and ionic composition of field injection brine. Also, research confirmed that the driving mechanism is wettability alteration of carbonate rock surface.This paper highlights extensive and a broad range of laboratory studies including wettability and surface chemistry studies to define the role of water ions in the induced wettability alteration, which is crucial in determining the optimum composition of injection water for future field applications.The rock surface chemistry studies pointed out the potential mechanisms for wettability alteration triggered by injecting different salinity slugs of field injection water. The contact angle results indicated that a sufficient reduction in the ionic strength of field injection water is required to trigger the effect of wettability alteration. All evidence gathered during this research work indicate that what we deal with in this study is a new research trend, different from what have been addressed in the literature on low salinity waterflooding for sandstones, and seawater injection in chalks.

Publisher

SPE

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3