Abstract
An alternate injection of solvent and hot water/steam called Steam-Over-Solvent injection in Facture Reservoirs (SOS-FR) has been recently suggested and tested by our research group. In this process, most oil is produced during the solvent phase and then hot water/steam phase is assigned, mainly to retrieve the solvent. Oil recovery during this phase is typically low due to limited thermal expansion in the case of oil-wet matrix, and because capillary imbibition and gravity drainage driven by viscosity reduction do not have a significant contribution to the recovery. Wettability alteration toward more water-wet state will, however, enhance these mechanisms.
Based on these facts, different wettability alteration agents were tested including cationic and anionic surfactants, ionic liquids, nano-fluids, high pH solutions, and low salinity water. The potential of these materials to modify the wettability of aged sandstone and limestone samples was evaluated using imbibition tests.
Berea sandstone (aged to be oil-wet) and Indiana limestone samples were saturated with heavy oil (3, 600 cp). After the wettability modification was confirmed using different tests, the SOS-FR method was applied. The process was initiated by soaking cores into solvent (heptane or diluent oil) and the oil recovery was estimated using refractive index measurements. Then, two different experimental schemes were followed. In this first scheme, different brines were used and the oil production readings were taken periodically. These experiments will yield additional oil recovery (and solvent retrieval) by capillary imbibition and enhance gravity drainage if the wettability alteration due to solvent effect in the previous phase and chemical injected in the subsequent phase was achieved. In the second scheme, the heptane was retrieved first by hot-water exposure and the capillary imbibition tests were performed to test the selected chemical additive solutions as the wettability alteration agents.
After conducting a total of 28 experiments, the most promising wettability alteration agents were marked and optimal application conditions (i.e., temperatures, injection sequence) were identified.
