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Experimental Study of Foam Flow in Fractured Oil-Wet Limestone for Enhanced Oil Recovery
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2010
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Experimental Study of Foam Flow in Fractured Oil-wet Limestone for Enhanced Oil Recovery Å.. Haugen; Å.. Haugen University of Bergen Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar M. A. Fernø; M. A. Fernø University of Bergen Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar A.. Graue; A.. Graue University of Bergen Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar H. J. Bertin H. J. Bertin TREFLE ENSAM Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Paper presented at the SPE Improved Oil Recovery Symposium, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, April 2010. Paper Number: SPE-129763-MS https://doi.org/10.2118/129763-MS Published: April 24 2010 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Get Permissions Search Site Citation Haugen, Å.. , Fernø, M. A., Graue, A.. , and H. J. Bertin. "Experimental Study of Foam Flow in Fractured Oil-wet Limestone for Enhanced Oil Recovery." Paper presented at the SPE Improved Oil Recovery Symposium, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, April 2010. doi: https://doi.org/10.2118/129763-MS Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll ProceedingsSociety of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)SPE Improved Oil Recovery Conference Search Advanced Search Abstract The use of foam to increase oil recovery by reducing the gas mobility during gas injection in heterogeneous reservoirs with permeability variations is a proven EOR technology. The use of foam for fracture permeability reduction in fractured reservoirs is less studied. In this work laboratory experiments using foam to reduce fracture transmissivity and improve the matrix sweep in highly fractured, low permeable, oil-wet limestone are reported. Oil recovery either by individual water-, surfactant-, or gas injection exhibited low recovery, less than 10%OIP, with oil recovered predominately from the fractures. Oil recovery was significantly improved by simultaneous injection of surfactant and gas to generate foam in the fracture network and thus divert flow to the oil saturated matrix. Two foam injection schemes were tested: 1) co-injection of surfactant and gas in the fracture for in-situ foam generation, and 2) pre-generated foam injection. In-situ foam generation in the smooth-walled fractures was weak and not sufficient to divert fluids from the fractures and into the matrix. Injection of stable, pre-generated foam caused an increase in the differential pressure and diverted fluid to the matrix, yielding a significant increase in oil recovery, 80% OIP was receverd at high pore volumes injected. Keywords: foam, upstream oil & gas, chemical flooding methods, waterflooding, differential pressure, injection, recovery, fluid dynamics, matrix, fracture matrix permeability ratio Subjects: Reservoir Fluid Dynamics, Improved and Enhanced Recovery, Flow in porous media, Waterflooding, Chemical flooding methods Copyright 2010, Society of Petroleum Engineers You can access this article if you purchase or spend a download.