Thanks to the current oil price level, enhanced oil recovery (EOR) deployments continue to unlock reserves around the world, although perhaps not at the pace many practitioners would hope for.
The three papers selected for this feature highlight some creative solutions that aim to increase project value by either increasing recovery or optimizing injectant cost, or both.
In recent decades, technology breakthroughs have enabled commercial exploitation of vast shale plays, but recovery factors remain low compared with conventional reservoirs. Paper SPE 220801 reports on a series of biosurfactant huff ’n’ puff field trials conducted in the Bakken formation, which have proved effective in improving oil production rate within just a few days after the treatment, thereby yielding a quick return on investment. Every barrel counts.
While biosurfactant injection may be a frontier EOR method, polymer flooding, on the other hand, is a well-established method for improving the macroscopic sweep in high-permeability reservoirs. Despite many large-scale field deployments, there are still different views on what constitutes optimal polymer viscosity. Paper SPE 222035 captures the pros and cons of high vs. low polymer viscosity by considering the full project life cycle.
Surveillance is a key ingredient in modern reservoir management and is even more important in EOR operations to ensure efficient utilization of expensive injectants. Paper SPE 222836 describes the use of geochemical fingerprinting techniques to shed additional light on the fluid-filling history for a low-permeability reservoir in the Middle East, which has been undergoing miscible water-alternating-gas injection for more than a decade.
I hope that you will find the three papers of interest to your own work.
Summarized Papers in This June 2025 Issue
SPE 220801 Study Using Multifunctional Biosurfactants Offers Insight Into Bakken EOR by Megan R. Pearl, Locus Bio-Energy, et al.
SPE 222035 Review Investigates Selection of Viscosities for Injected Polymersby Eric Delamaide, IFP Technologies
SPE 222836 Multivariate Geochemical Fingerprinting Reveals Effects of EOR Processes by Tamer Koksalan, ADNOC, et al.
Recommended Additional Reading
SPE 220607 Late-Life Asset Management: Field T Value Optimization as the First Malaysian EOR Assetby Hani Mohd Said, ExxonMobil, et al.
SPE 220103 Assessing Alkali-Polymer Interactions for EOR: Observations From Laboratory Evaluations and Field Application in Austria by M. Tahir, OMV Exploration and Production, et al.
SPE 221098 Developing an Instant Polymer Fluid-Preparation Facility for Offshore Polymer-Flooding Applications by Zhang Jian, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, et al.
SPE 223155 Are Field Polymer Enhanced Oil Recovery Projects Reaping the Benefits of Residual Oil Saturation Reduction Because of Polymer Viscoelasticity? by Madhar Sahib Azad, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, et al.
SPE 222096 First Miscible Gas Injection EOR Pilot in Kuwait: Integrated Reservoir Modeling Challenges and Implications for Full-Field CO2 EOR Development by A. Pradhan, Kuwait Oil Company, et al.
SPE 222434 High-Molecular-Weight Polymer Injection in Polymer-Flood EOR Project South Oman: Achieving More Oil With Less Polymer by Omaira Riyami, Petroleum Development Oman, et al.
Kristian Mogensen, SPE, is a subject-matter expert on phase behavior at Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s Thamama Excellence Center. Additionally, he oversees the design of limited-entry liners for long horizontal wells and steers development of compositional, integrated asset models for production-system optimization. Before assuming his current role, Mogensen worked 12 years on EOR for Maersk Oil, Eni, and ADNOC. He was the recipient of the SPE 2020 Regional Reservoir Description and Dynamics Award and was an SPE Distinguished Lecturer for 2022–23. Mogensen’s publications include 60 SPE papers, 20 peer-reviewed journal papers, and more than 20 patents. He holds MS and PhD degrees in chemical engineering from the Technical University of Denmark and serves on the JPT Editorial Review Board.