Applications of Weak Gel for In-Depth Profile Modification and Oil Displacement
Authors: Wang W. , Gu Y. , Liu Y. 
Published: March 2010

Water breakthrough is a common problem when an oil field is waterflooded. Polymer solutions are widely applied to resolve the water channeling problem in deep formations. In practice, polymers are used in deep formation treatments either to block in-depth high permeability zones or to improve the mobility ratio. However, the major challenge for in-depth profile modification is how to deliver the gelling solution to the target zones. To this end, a polymer solution has to be injected at a high concentration. Thus, such a treatment sometimes becomes uneconomical. On the other hand, polymer flooding is ineffective primarily due to the viscosity loss caused by mechanical and chemical degradation. In this paper, a weak gel system is developed and used as an in-depth profile modification agent and as an oil displacement agent in a heterogeneous reservoir. The gel system has relatively low strength but can still be crosslinked in the reservoir formation. In comparison with a pure polymer solution, it suffers from less mechanical and chemical degradation because of its crosslink reaction. The EOR mechanisms of the weak gel system are described briefly. The detailed effects of polymer concentration, crosslinker concentration, temperature, and pH on gelation time are studied. Also the rheological properties, gelation range, and gel strength are examined. The coreflood results provide experimental evidence that the weak gel acts both as an in-depth profile modification agent and as an oil displacement agent. Furthermore, pilot tests have been performed in the Gudong and the Gudao oil fields of the Shengli oil field in China since 1992. The cummulative incremental oil production has been over 58,000 tonnes at the end of 2001.

Introduction

Waterflooding is the most widely used technology for improving oil recovery. However, early water breakthrough is a common problem encountered in almost every waterflooded oil field. Severe water channeling can result in low waterflooding efficiency and sometimes even make waterflooding uneconomical. There are several reasons for water breakthrough. Sometimes, it happens near the wellbore region, such as breakthrough along the casing due to poor cementing quality. In other cases, water breakthrough occurs in a deep formation because of its heterogeneity or fractures. In addition, because of the mobility difference between the displacing phase and the displaced phase, the former tends to bypass the latter in a homogeneous formation. In this case, viscous fingering is inevitable and early water breakthrough occurs in the producers(1–3). Different technologies have been implemented to reduce the high water-cut caused by water breakthrough, among which the most widely used is polymer injection. In general, polymer is increasingly used in chemical EOR in two traditional ways: either as an in-depth profile modification agent in conformance control, or as an oil displacement agent in polymer flooding.

For conformance control, polymer and crosslinker are injected into formations to reduce large channeling through fractures or high permeability zones without damaging the productivity of the hydrocarbon. However, due to the prompt crosslink reaction, gel is sometimes formed near the wellbore.