A laboratory investigation of high-temperature surfactant flooding

Conference · Sat Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1984 · Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6073207

Ziegler, V M

Experiments were conducted to evaluate the use of surfactants for improving heavy-oil recovery from the hot water zone in a steamflood. Criteria used to screen surfactants for this high-temperature application included thermal stability, interfacial activity, and surfactant flood performance. The thermal stabilities of several classes of sulfonate surfactants were measured. Surfactants exhibiting no thermal decomposition at elevated temperature (500/sup 0/F) were identified. The phase behavior between heavy crude oil (14.5/sup 0/API) and surfactant solution was determined over a temperature range from 150/sup 0/F to 350/sup 0/F. Regions of high interfacial activity were generated by the addition of salt to the brine phase. Interfacial tension (IFT) measurements confirmed the high salinity requirement of the selected surfactant/brine/oil system at elevated temperature. High-temperature (200/sup 0/F - 350/sup 0/F) surfactant floods were performed to study the effect of several variables on tertiary oil recovery. Variables studied included preflush slug size, surfactant slug size, surfactant concentration, flood temperature, core material, and mobility control. Improved oil recovery was obtained when a salinity gradient flood design was used. For the most favorable systems, incremental oil recoveries up to 14% pore volume (PV) were achieved. Estimates of field performance indicate an 8% to 32% increase in oil recovery when using surfactant with steam.

• Research Organization: Chevron Oil Field Research Co.
• OSTI ID: 6073207
• Report Number(s): CONF-8409104-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States) Journal Volume: SPE13071
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
ADDITIVES
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
DISPLACEMENT FLUIDS
ENHANCED RECOVERY
FLUID INJECTION
FLUIDS
HIGH TEMPERATURE
MEDIUM TEMPERATURE
MICROEMULSION FLOODING
MISCIBLE-PHASE DISPLACEMENT
OIL WELLS
PHASE STUDIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PRODUCTIVITY
RECOVERY
ROCK-FLUID INTERACTIONS
SALINITY
STEAM INJECTION
SURFACTANTS
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS
THERMAL RECOVERY
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
WELLS