Traditional methods for increasing oil recovery for deposits of high-viscosity oil and heavy oil are aimed at reducing the viscosity of oil and increasing its mobility through the use of methods based on heat injection into the reservoir. In some cases, thermal methods do not show a good result, for example, for thin-bedded or deep-seated formations. Currently, specialists use chemical methods for stimulating the formation as the most commonly used means of increasing the efficiency of the oil field development process. One of the most commonly used chemical methods is polymer flooding. Traditionally, the economically advantageous area of application of this method is: 1) a high mobility ratio in the case of classical water flooding, 2) high heterogeneity of the formation, 3) a combination of these factors. In these cases, polymers can be injected both in the form of conventional polymer solutions and in the form of polymer systems crosslinked in formation, in order to increase the oil recovery due to the thickening of the displacing fluid or the reduction of phase permeability along it, as well as by puncturing the zones of increased permeability. Classical polymer flooding involves the injection of a large-sized rim polymer solution to reduce the mobility ratio. It is very important in the design of polymer flooding to find a rational concentration of polymer (substance) in the polymer solution, to determine the viscosity of the polymer solution, the size of its rim, the injection regime, etc. In this article, the authors considered in detail such a parameter as the viscosity of a polymer solution, and also proposed an express method for determining its rational value.
References
1. Lake L.W., Fundamentals of Enhanced Oil Recovery, The University of Texas at Austin, 2005, URL: http://www.txessarchive.org/documents/J_EOR_ppt.pdf.
2. Huh C., Pope G.A., Residual oil saturation from polymer floods: Laboratory measurements and theoretical interpretation, SPE 113417, 2008.
3. Gao S.H., Scientific research and field applications of polymer flooding in heavy oil recovery, J Petrol Explor Prod Technol, 2011.
4. Carcoana A., Applied enhanced oil recovery, USA: Prentice-Hall, 1992, 152 p.
5. Taber J.J., Martin F.D., Seright R.S., EOR screening criteria revisited, Part 1: Introduction to screening criteria and enhanced recovery field projects, SPE 35385-PA, 1997, August.
6. Saboorian-Jooybari H., Dejam M., Chen Z., Half-century of heavy oil polymer flooding from laboratory core floods to pilot tests and field applications, SPE 174402-MS, 2015.
7. SNF FLOERGER “Situatsiya s polimernymi MUN v mire” (The situation with polymer EOR in the world), Moscow, 2012. – http://gubkin.ru/upload/ iblock/45b/SNF_Presentation_Moscow_Sept_2012_ru.pdf
8. Mogollon J., Lokhandwala T., Rejuvenating viscous oil reservoirs by polymer flooding: Lessons learned in the field, SPE 165275, 2013.
9. Delamaide E., Bazin B., Rousseau D., Chemical EOR for heavy oil: the Canadian experience, SPE 169715-MS, 2014.
10. Wang J., Dong M., A laboratory study of polymer flooding for improving heavy oil recovery, Paper PETSOC-2007-178 presented at the Canadian International Petroleum Conference, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 2007, 12–14 June.
11. Wang J., Dong M., Optimum effective viscosity of polymer solution for improving heavy oil recovery, Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 2009, V. 67(3-4), pp. 155–158.
12. Telkov V.P., A new vision of polymer flooding as method of high-viscous oil displacement, Proceedings of X International Scientific and Technical Conference “GEOPETROL 2016”, Krakov: Oil and Gas Institute, 2016, pp. 383–389.
13. Telkov V.P., Kim S.V., Sharafiddinov KH.S., Alali V., Novyye vozmozhnosti ispol’zovaniya polimernogo zavodneniya kak metoda vytesneniya vysokovyazkoy nefti (New possibilities of using polymer flooding as a method of displacement of high-viscosity oil), Proceeding of XV International Conference “Resursovosproizvodyashchiye, malootkhodnyye i prirodookhrannyye tekhnologii osvoyeniya nedr” (Resource-reproducing, low-waste and nature protection technologies for the development of subsoil resources), Homs (Syria), 2016, pp. 133–136.
14. Telkov V.P., Kim S.V., Mostadzheran M., Povysheniye effektivnosti vytesneniya vysokovyazkikh neftey polimernymi rastvorami (Increase in the efficiency of displacement of highly viscous oils by polymer solutions), Proceedings of XXI International Symposium named after Academician M.A. Usov of students and young scientists dedicated to the 130th anniversary of the birth of Professor M.I. Kuchina “Problemy geologii i osvoyeniya nedr” (The problems of geology and mineral development), Tomsk: Publ. of TPU, 2017, V. 2, pp. 148–150.вЃ
