Evaluation of surfactants as steam diverters/mobility control agents in light oil steamfloods: Effect of oil composition, rates and experimental conditions

摘要

A series of experiments was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of commercially available surfactants for steam-foam EOR applications in light oil reservoirs. The experiments were performed in a 3-ft long, 1-1/2 in.-diameter cylindrical sandpack of about 1 darcy permeability. The sandpack and injected fluids were preheated to 430(degree)F at 155 psi. The main objective of these tests was to investigate the effectiveness of several surfactants in providing mobility control under a variety of conditions expected in light-oil steamfloods. Thus, maximum pressure-rise and foam-bank buildup/decay were noted as operating conditions were changed in a test or in various tests. Tests were performed with various oil types, sacrificial salts, injection rates, injection strategies, vapor-to-liquid fractions (VLF), and steam/N(sub 2) ratios (SNR).