Oil recovery by alkaline waterflooding

Conference · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1974 · Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6813021

Cooke, Jr, C E; Williams, R E; Kolodzie, P A

Flooding of oil containing organic acids with alkaline water under favorable conditions can result in recovery of around 50% of the residual oil left in a watered-out model. A high recovery efficiency results from the formation of a bank of viscous water-in-oil emulsion as surface active agents (soaps) are created by reactions of base in the water with the organic acids in the oil. The type and amount of organic acids in the oil, the pH and salt content of the water, and the amount of fines in the porous medium are the primary factors which determine the amount of additional oil recovered by this method. Interaction of alkaline water with reservoir rock largely determines the amount of chemical needed to flood a reservoir. Laboratory investigations using synthetic oils and crude oils show the importance of oil-water and liquid-solid interfacial properties to the results of an alkaline waterflood. A small field test demonstrated that emulsion banks can be formed in the reservoir and that chemical costs can be reasonable in selected reservoirs. Although studies have provided many qualitative guide lines for evaluating the feasibility of alkaline waterflooding, the economic attractiveness of the process must be considered on an individual reservoir.

• Research Organization: Esso Production Res Co
• OSTI ID: 6813021
• Report Number(s): CONF-7404143-
• Journal Information: Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States), Vol. SPE-4739; Conference: SPE of AIME improved oil recovery symposium, Tulsa, OK, USA, 22 Apr 1974
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
CAUSTIC FLOODING
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
FIELD TESTS
ECONOMICS
ENHANCED RECOVERY
OIL WELLS
ORGANIC ACIDS
PETROLEUM
WELL STIMULATION
ENERGY SOURCES
FLUID INJECTION
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
RECOVERY
STIMULATION
TESTING
WATERFLOODING
WELLS
020300* - Petroleum- Drilling & Production