The influence of wettability on oil recovery

Abstract

The world's energy demands are met by crude oil, improving oil recovery is recognized as the major target and challenge at the different stages of an oil field development. After conventional primary and secondary production techniques have been employed, huge amount of crude oil is left underground. This point out the need to study and implement new and innovative methods to recover the remaining oil and in turn requires an in-depth study of reservoir characteristics such as properties of the crude oil, brine, the mineralogy of the rock surface and their effects on the interactions that take place between crude oil, brine and the rock surface. In this study, wettability was considered in order to understand these interactions. An analytical model was proposed to account for the influence of wettability on oil recovery and relative permeability. Results were represented graphically at different contact angle which represented the reservoir wettability. Water-wet conditions gave highest oil recovery and relative permeability to oil.