Enhanced recovery

Low Polymer Retention Possible in Flooding of High-Salinity Carbonate Reservoirs

In this study, the authors show that high-temperature, high-salinity polymers can exhibit low adsorption and retention in carbonate reservoir rock at ultrahigh salinity conditions.

Experimental setup for retention experiments.
Fig. 1—Experimental setup for retention experiments. BPR=backpressure regulator.

Polymer flooding has been a successful enhanced-oil-recovery method in sandstone reservoirs for decades. Extending polymer flooding to carbonate reservoirs has been challenging because of adsorption loss and polymer availability for high-temperature, high-salinity (HT/HS) reservoirs. In this study, the authors establish that HT/HS polymers can exhibit low adsorption and retention in carbonate reservoir rock at ultrahigh salinity conditions.

Introduction

Retention is a key factor for polymer propagation and acceleration of oil production by polymer flooding. In the complete paper, the authors consider HT/HS applications for carbonate reservoirs.

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