Abstract
Polymer flooding has been proved to be an effective method for improving oil recovery in offshore field of Bohai area, but thief zones with high permeability could make the effect of polymer on oil production worse. To try to minimize the negative impact brought by thief zones, we apply asphalt particle to plug the high permeability regions to compel subsequent displacement fluid change flowing direction to enhance sweep efficiency.
Its adaptability is studied by a series of parallel cores flooding. Besides, numerical simulations are carried out to optimize pattern of asphalt particle injection and evaluate the performances of asphalt flooding in a typical well group in Bohai area in a numerical model.
In addition to performances of water cut and oil recovery for the parallel core flooding, we present dynamic features of remaining oil from micro views detected by nuclear magnetic resonance. By plugging thief zone by asphalt flooding, oil production is improved. Production in small and medium pores is increased by asphalt flowing into big pores to exert strong resistance on them. Also, with numerical simulations, optimal way of injecting asphalt has been selected to lead the operation in field. Through observation of a typical well group under asphalt injection in numerical model based on real reservoir, the water-cut and oil production are decrease 9.7% and increase 29.1m3/d respectively. We conclude that asphalt particle has good capacity to plug thief zones to improve sweep efficiency of subsequent displacement fluid in polymer flooding field.
In-depth understanding such mechanisms for asphalt particle behavior may be pivotal for enhancing oil recovery in polymer flooding reservoir containing thief zones.
