Big polymer flood tried at Wilmington

Journal Article · Mon Jul 28 04:00:00 EDT 1969 · Oil Gas J.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6688556

Mobil Oil Corp. has launched the nation's largest polymer flood in a portion of Wilmington field, Long Beach, Calif. Using Dow Chemical Co. Pusher 700, Mobil is injecting 20,000 bpd into 17 wells. Approximately 50 production wells are in the flood pattern, and another 35 on the periphery will be affected to varying degrees. The portion of Wilmington now under Pusher influence has been under conventional waterflood for about 3 yr. It is producing between 3,000 and 4,000 bpd. The Pusher flood is planned during which more than 4 million pounds of polymer will be used. Optimum concentration of the polymer in the injection water has been placed at 250 ppm for this project. At the end of the 7 yr program the field will be returned to conventional waterflood operation. Engineering studies indicate a possible increase in recovery of up to 60% over conventional waterfloods. Construction of a completely automated mixing and injection plant has been completed. The plant will handle polymer storage, mixing, and injection. It will accept bulk polymer in rail-car lots, automatically transfer it to the storage silo on demand, and mix it with the injection water at the 250 ppm rate. The Pusher process is designed to increase oil recovery over that obtainable from conventional waterflooding by lowering the mobility ratio between the driven and injected fluids.

• OSTI ID: 6688556
• Journal Information: Oil Gas J.; (United States), Journal Name: Oil Gas J.; (United States) Vol. 67:30; ISSN OIGJA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
AUTOMATION
CALIFORNIA
ENHANCED RECOVERY
FEDERAL REGION IX
FLUID INJECTION
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
MICROEMULSION FLOODING
MINERAL RESOURCES
MISCIBLE-PHASE DISPLACEMENT
NORTH AMERICA
OIL FIELDS
OIL WELLS
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
POLYMERS
QUANTITY RATIO
RECOVERY
RESOURCES
USA
WATERFLOODING
WELLS