POLYMER FLOODING IN A HIGH SALINITY HEAVY-OIL RESERVOIR

Abstract

This work aims to present a methodology to evaluate polymer flooding and compare the results with the conventional waterflooding for a target heavy oil reservoir. The dead oil and produced water (SPW) (104 800 ppm of total solids dissolved) were prepared to represent the reservoir fluids at test conditions (60°C). SPW was the water source to make and determine the polymer concentration (HPAM-ATBS) to get the target viscosity for the injection fluid (10 mPa s at 7.8 s-1). Botucatu sandstone samples represented the reservoir formation. We verified the thickness of the polymer solution after flow throughout the rock sample and confirmed higher value than that for injected SPW. Polymer flooding led to the breakthrough delay, shifted the fractional flow to the right, anticipated oil production, and incremented oil recovery. Under the tested conditions, the maximum contribution of polymer flooding occurred up to 70% of water cut.