Fluid diversion and sweep improvement with chemical gels in oil recovery processes. Final report.

摘要

The objectives of this project were to identify the mechanisms by which gel treatments divert fluids in reservoirs and to establish where and how gel treatments are best applied. Several different types of gelants were examined, including polymer-based gelants, a monomer-based gelant, and a colloidal-silica gelant. This research was directed at gel applications in water injection wells, in production wells, and in high-pressure gas floods. The work examined how the flow properties of gels and gelling agents are influenced by permeability, lithology, and wettability. Other goals included determining the proper placement of gelants, the stability of in-place gels, and the types of gels required for the various oil recovery processes and for different scales of reservoir heterogeneity. During this three-year project, a number of theoretical analyses were performed to determine where gel treatments are expected to work best and where they are not expected to be effective. The most important, predictions from these analyses are presented. Undoubtedly, some of these predictions will be controversial. However, they do provide a starting point in establishing guidelines for the selection of field candidates for gel treatments. A logical next step is to seek field data that either confirm or contradict these predictions. The experimental work focused on four types of gels: (1) resorcinol-formaldehyde, (2) colloidal silica, (3) Cr(sup 3+)(chloride)-xanthan, and (4) Cr(sup 3+)(acetate)-polyacrylamide. All experiments were performed at 41(degrees)C.