TY - THES

T1 - Alkaline & Polymer Experimental Study for the 8TH & 16TH Reservoirs of the Matzen Field

AU - van Laer, Christophe

N1 - embargoed until null

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - An experimental investigation was conducted to test the potential of alkaline and polymer flooding to improve the recovery of the 8TH and 16TH reservoirs of the Matzen field, two reservoirs that have been producing for over 60 years. The investigation involved running an emulsion and a core flooding study. In the emulsion study, various alkaline solutions were mixed with stock tank oil from the 8TH reservoir. The goal of the study was to observe how alkaline salt and concentration, reservoir brine, solution salinity and aquous/crude volume ratio influence the formation of emulsions. The results showed that no micro-emulsion would form due to the high salinity of the reservoir. It was also found that Na2CO3 is tolerant to divalent ions, unlike NaOH, however without the addition of EDTA precipitation occurs. In the core flooding study, aged cores were flooded with different alkaline solutions and the following properties were measured: oil rate, water rate, pH, tracer concentration and polymer concentration. The most effective flood tested resulted in an incremental recovery factor of 0.331. The flood was composed of alkaline (1%wt Na2CO3), polymer (800ppm FLOPAM 3630s) and softened synthetic brine to inhibit precipitation. The experiments also indicated that alkaline is the major contributor to the recovery and that the polymer is indeed improving the sweep efficiency.

AB - An experimental investigation was conducted to test the potential of alkaline and polymer flooding to improve the recovery of the 8TH and 16TH reservoirs of the Matzen field, two reservoirs that have been producing for over 60 years. The investigation involved running an emulsion and a core flooding study. In the emulsion study, various alkaline solutions were mixed with stock tank oil from the 8TH reservoir. The goal of the study was to observe how alkaline salt and concentration, reservoir brine, solution salinity and aquous/crude volume ratio influence the formation of emulsions. The results showed that no micro-emulsion would form due to the high salinity of the reservoir. It was also found that Na2CO3 is tolerant to divalent ions, unlike NaOH, however without the addition of EDTA precipitation occurs. In the core flooding study, aged cores were flooded with different alkaline solutions and the following properties were measured: oil rate, water rate, pH, tracer concentration and polymer concentration. The most effective flood tested resulted in an incremental recovery factor of 0.331. The flood was composed of alkaline (1%wt Na2CO3), polymer (800ppm FLOPAM 3630s) and softened synthetic brine to inhibit precipitation. The experiments also indicated that alkaline is the major contributor to the recovery and that the polymer is indeed improving the sweep efficiency.

KW - alkaline flooding

KW - polymer flooding

KW - EOR

KW - Matzen

KW - Alkalisch

KW - Polymer

KW - EOR

M3 - Master's Thesis

ER -