Optimal Zwitterionic Surfactant Slug for an Improved Oil Recovery in Oil Wet Carbonate Rocks

M. Barth, B. Nwani, Yosamin Esanullah
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Abstract

Of recent, there has been research and development in the technologies/techniques required to meet the ever-growing energy demand in the world. Oil is a major source of energy which is contained in over 50% of carbonate reservoirs. The oil/mixed wettability of carbonate rocks makes it technically challenging to recover the needed oil. The process of crude oil recovery has three different stages primary, secondary and tertiary recovery. Tertiary recovery is also known as enhanced oil recovery or EOR. EOR includes the use of surfactants to reduce the interfacial tension between a hydrocarbon and brine, thus suspending them both in a microemulsion. Surfactant performance can be affected by multiple variables, including brine salinity, surfactant concentration, and type of hydrocarbon. A petroleum engineer must take all variables into consideration when selecting a surfactant to make sure that its efficiency is as high as possible, especially because the use of surfactants is costly.  In this work, a chembetaine zwitter ionic surfactant of two different concentrations are evaluated at various synthetic formation brine salinities for their favourable wettability alteration and interfacial tension reduction in oil-wet carbonate- Silurian Dolomite. For the evaluation, fluid-fluid and rock-fluid analysis are carried out to select the optimal surfactant concentration and brine salinity with the greatest improved oil recovery potential.  Results are indicative that the surfactant at the two concentrations studied is compatible at the ranges of salinities evaluated. However, from the fluid-fluid analysis, there was no ultra-low interfacial tension that is needed for oil mobilization. More so, the rock-fluid analysis shows that the surfactant is not able to alter the wettability of oil-wet rocks favourably. The optimal surfactant slug for the greatest oil recovery, in this case, would be expected at 0.5% surfactant concentration in 10,000 ppm synthetic formation brine salinity. This study, therefore, serves as a guide for the design of optimal surfactant slug in oil-wet carbonate cores requires to reduce non-productive time, prevent reservoir damage and therefore improve recovery.
提高含油碳酸盐岩采收率的最佳两性离子表面活性剂段塞
最近,为了满足世界上不断增长的能源需求,在技术方面进行了研究和开发。石油是主要的能源,超过50%的碳酸盐岩储层中含有石油。碳酸盐岩的油/混合润湿性使其在技术上具有挑战性。原油开采过程分为一次、二次和三次开采三个阶段。三次采油也被称为提高采收率或EOR。EOR包括使用表面活性剂来降低碳氢化合物和盐水之间的界面张力,从而将两者悬浮在微乳液中。表面活性剂的性能会受到多种因素的影响,包括盐水盐度、表面活性剂浓度和碳氢化合物类型。石油工程师在选择表面活性剂时必须考虑所有变量,以确保其效率尽可能高,特别是因为表面活性剂的使用成本很高。在本研究中,研究了两种不同浓度的甜菜碱两性离子表面活性剂在不同合成地层盐水盐度下的润湿性改变和界面张力降低效果。在评价中,进行了流体-流体和岩石-流体分析,以选择具有最大提高采收率潜力的最佳表面活性剂浓度和盐水盐度。结果表明,两种浓度的表面活性剂在评价的盐度范围内是相容的。然而,从流体-流体分析来看,没有超低的界面张力来动员油。此外,岩石流体分析表明,表面活性剂不能很好地改变油湿岩石的润湿性。在这种情况下,在10000 ppm的合成地层盐水盐度下,表面活性剂浓度为0.5%的段塞可以获得最大的采收率。因此,该研究可为设计油湿型碳酸盐岩心中最佳表面活性剂段塞流提供指导,以减少非生产时间,防止储层损害,从而提高采收率。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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