Surfactant-enhanced alkaline flooding field project. Annual report

摘要

The Tucker sand from Hepler field, Crawford County, Kansas, was characterized using routine and advanced analytical methods. The characterization is part of a chemical flooding pilot test to be conducted in the field, which is classified as a DOE Class I (fluvial-dominated delta) reservoir. Routine and advanced methods of characterization were compared. Traditional wireline logs indicate that the reservoir is vertically compartmentalized on the foot scale. Routine core analysis, X-ray computed tomography (CT), minipermeameter measurement, and petrographic analysis indicate that compartmentalization and lamination extend to the microscale. An idealized model of how the reservoir is probably structured (complex layering with small compartments) is presented. There was good agreement among the several methods used for characterization, and advanced characterization methods adequately explained the coreflood and tracer tests conducted with short core plugs. Tracer and chemical flooding tests were conducted in short core plugs while monitoring with CT to establish flow patterns and to monitor oil saturations in different zones of the core plugs. Channeling of injected fluids occurred in laboratory experiments because, on core plug scale, permeability streaks extended the full length of the core plugs. A graphic example of how channeling in field core plugs can affect oil recovery during chemical injection is presented. The small scale of compartmentalization indicated by plugs of the Tucker sand may actually help improve sweep between wells. The success of field-scale waterflooding and the fluid flow patterns observed in highly heterogeneous outcrop samples are reasons to expect that reservoir flow patterns are different from those observed with short core plugs, and better sweep efficiency may be obtained in the field than has been observed in laboratory floods conducted with short core plugs.