Although polymer flooding has become a promising enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technique, no field tests have been performed to date in Alaska’s underdeveloped heavy-oil reservoirs. The overall objective of the research outlined in the complete paper is to perform a field experiment to validate the use of polymer flooding in this challenging environment. At the time of writing, no unexpected injectivity issues or polymer breakthroughs have been encountered and the two horizontal producers are showing positive response to the polymer injection, resulting in incremental increase in oil production rate.
Introduction
The Alaska North Slope (ANS) contains vast resources of heavy oils, primarily concentrated in the West Sak (also called Schrader Bluff) and Ugnu reservoirs. There are currently six fields producing heavy oil in Alaska: Orion, Polaris, Milne Point, Tabasco, Kuparuk, and Nikaitchuq.
