Low-salinity waterflooding in non-polar oil
A. Al-Sarihi A B , A. Zeinijahromi A and P. Bedrikovetsky AA Australian School of Petroleum, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005.
B Corresponding author. Email: abdullah.sarihi@adelaide.edu.au
The APPEA Journal 58(2) 660-663 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ17192
Accepted: 5 March 2018 Published: 28 May 2018
Abstract
Enhanced oil recovery by low-salinity waterflooding is considered to have positive results only when polar components exist in oil. This study shows that low-salinity brine can result in incremental recovery for non-polar oil through fines-assisted waterflooding. Despite the traditional view of fines migration that it should be avoided because of its detrimental effect on reservoir permeability, this work shows that permeability decline is a main mechanism in the low-salinity effect on non-polar oil. Laboratory coreflood tests were performed on a clay-rich Berea outcrop core and a clean sand core to investigate the effect of clay migration when the core is saturated with non-polar oil. The results show that fines migration reduces residual saturation by 18%. In addition, a decrease in the water volume production was observed due to the decrease in water relative permeability.
Keywords: EOR, fines migration, LSW, relative permeability.
Abdullah Al-Sarihi is a PhD candidate in the Australian School of Petroleum at the University of Adelaide, Australia. He received his BEng and MSc degrees in petroleum engineering both from the University of New South Wales. |
Dr Abbas Zeinijahromi is Senior Lecturer in Petroleum Engineering at the Australian School of Petroleum at the University of Adelaide. Abbas holds a PhD in Petroleum engineering from the University of Adelaide, MSc in Reservoir Engineering and BSc in Production Engineering. |
Prof. Pavel Bedrikovetsky is a professor and Chair in Petroleum Engineering at the Australian School of Petroleum at the University of Adelaide. He is also a senior staff consultant to Petrobras. He holds BEng and MSc degrees in applied mathematics, a PhD degree in fluid mechanics, and a DSc degree in reservoir engineering, all from Moscow Gubkin Petroleum University. |
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