Development of mobility control methods to improve oil recovery by CO/sub 2/. Second annual report, October 1, 1980-September 30, 1981

Technical Report · Mon Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:5378966

Heller, J P; Taber, J J

Carbon dioxide (CO/sub 2/) shows certain advantages over water as a displacement fluid in Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). The objective of this project is to develop means by which the indicated possibility, of recovering more oil from reservoirs, may be achieved in practice. The work is guided by the following widely accepted principle, based on evidence observed by many investigators over the last three decades. Development of non-uniformities in a two- or three-dimensional displacement in a permeable medium is severely aggravated by the frontal instability resulting from an unfavorable mobility ratio. Such a ratio occurs when the displacing fluid is less viscous than the displaced, as is the case in a CO/sub 2/ flood, unless compensated by a uniform and opposite ratio of the relative permeabilities. The goal of this project has been to develop methods to counteract the harmful influence of the naturally unfavorable mobility ratio in CO/sub 2/ floods. This goal is to be achieved by thickening the CO/sub 2/ while retaining those properties and circumstances that lead to the high microscopic displacement efficiency. Efforts have been directed towards the development of two distinct methods for increasing the effective viscosity of dense CO/sub 2/. One of these involves the use of water-CO/sub 2/ emulsions or foams as the displacement fluid. The second type of mobility control additives being investigated are direct thickeners - solutions of certain polymers in the CO/sub 2/. Significant progress has been made in both these areas of development. In conjunction with the development of means of thickening the CO/sub 2/ displacement fluid, the need also exists to assess the behavior and effectiveness of the additives. The assessment is to be performed in a standardized, repeatable core-flooding test which has been developed as a third part of the project's laboratory work.

• Research Organization: New Mexico Inst. of Mining and Technology, Socorro (USA). New Mexico Petroleum Recovery Research Center
• DOE Contract Number: AC21-79MC10689
• OSTI ID: 5378966
• Report Number(s): DOE/NBM-2011445; EMD-2-68-3307; ON: DE82011445
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
ADDITIVES
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON DIOXIDE INJECTION
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
COLLOIDS
DISPERSIONS
EFFICIENCY
EMULSIONS
ENERGY SOURCES
ENHANCED RECOVERY
FLUID INJECTION
FOAMS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
MISCIBLE-PHASE DISPLACEMENT
OIL WELLS
OPTIMIZATION
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PETROLEUM
POLYMERS
RECOVERY
VISCOSITY
WELLS