Assessment of Enhanced Recovery Technology as a Means for Increasing Total Crude Oil Recovery in Texas.

摘要

Enhanced recovery (ER) refers to chemical and/or thermal treatment of oil reservoirs to increase the production of crude oil beyond those amounts recoverable by natural reservoir energy (primary recovery,by water drive or gas pressure) or by artificial maintenance of reservoir energy (secondary recovery by waterflood or gas injection). Current ER methods consist of (1) polymers to thicken reservoir water for more uniform sweep of water through the reservoir, (2) miscible fluids to reduce interfacial tension between the reservoir rock's very small pore spaces and the oil,or (3) heat applied in some form such as steam or underground combustion. Detailed analyses of 242Texas oil fields as a representative sample of the Texas oil resource are presented.