Altering relative permeability in production wells
Production of excessively large amounts of water in production wells has hindered the oil industry for many years. To overcome this adversity, methods have been devised to try and plug-off the water-producing section of the production formation, for example with cement, plastic or other similar materials. The water-to-hydrocarbon ratio of a production well may be decreased by injecting into the reservoir in the immediate vicinity of the production borehole an aqueous solution containing a water-soluble polymer obtained as a product of radiation-induced polymerization of acrylamide and/or methacrylamide and acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, and/or alkali metal salts thereof. The polymerization is preferably conducted in 10 to 60% aqueous monomer solution with gamma radiation. The mixture of monomers, before radiation, preferably contains 20 to 99% acrylamide and 80 to 1% sodium acrylate. (19 claims)
- Assignee:
- ICI America Inc.
- Patent Number(s):
- US 3820603
- OSTI ID:
- 5072318
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
58 GEOSCIENCES
580300 -- Mineralogy
Petrology
& Rock Mechanics-- (-1989)
ACRYLAMIDE
ADDITIVES
AMIDES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
OIL WELLS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC POLYMERS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PERMEABILITY
PLUGGING
POLYMERS
PRODUCTION
RESERVOIR ROCK
WATER
WATER INFLUX
WELLS