Weak Gel Formulations for Selective Control of Water Production in High-Permeability and High-Temperature Production Wells (1993)

Weak Gel Formulations for Selective Control of Water Production in High-Permeability and High-Temperature Production Wells Norbert Kohler; Norbert Kohler Inst. Francais du Petrole Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Ramine Rahbari; Ramine Rahbari Inst. Francais du Petrole Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Ming Han; Ming Han U. of Rouen Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Alain Zaitoun Alain Zaitoun Inst. Francais du Petrole Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Paper presented at the SPE International Symposium on Oilfield Chemistry, New Orleans, Louisiana, March 1993. Paper Number: SPE-25225-MS https://doi.org/10.2118/25225-MS Published: March 02 1993 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Get Permissions Search Site Citation Kohler, Norbert, Rahbari, Ramine, Han, Ming, and Alain Zaitoun. "Weak Gel Formulations for Selective Control of Water Production in High-Permeability and High-Temperature Production Wells." Paper presented at the SPE International Symposium on Oilfield Chemistry, New Orleans, Louisiana, March 1993. doi: https://doi.org/10.2118/25225-MS Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll ProceedingsSociety of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)SPE International Conference on Oilfield Chemistry Search Advanced Search AbstractTwo gelling systems involving a thermally stable biopolymer -namely, polysaccharide G- and two different crosslinkers -namely, X-linker A and X-linker B- have been tested in the lab for water control applications. The methodology involved tube tests to check the phase diagrams, kinetics and stability of the gel under various temperature, salinity and pH conditions. The gel formed with X-linker B was shown to be much more stable and easier to control than the gel formed with X-linker A. With the X-linker B/ Polysaccharide G system, at neutral pH, the kinetics of gelation was extremely slow at room temperature, but quicker above 70C. Such a system can thus be mixed in surface facilities without any risk of premature gelling and behaves like a single polymer solution during the injection phase. In high-permeability cores, the weak gel formed with X-linker B/Polysaccharide G was shown to induce a drop in the relative permeability to water an order of magnitude greater than the single polymer, while maintaining very good permeability to oil.IntroductionInjection of water soluble polymers into an oil or gas producing well can be an efficient way to reduce the production of water from this well while maintaining or increasing oil and gas production. In the zones invaded by the polymer, the relative permeability curves are greatly modified. The relative permeability to water decreases while the relative permeabilities to oil or gas are less affected. The most plausible explanation of such behavior is that polymer molecules become adsorbed on the surface of the rock, forming a dense layer on pore walls. This hydrophilic polymer layer greatly reduces the mobility of water, which tends to flow close to the pore wall but has almost no effect on the mobility of the nonwetting fluid (oil or gas), which flows through the center of the pores. From a macroscopic point of view the polymer modifies the streamlines around the well bore by its effect on relative permeabilities.P. 709^ Keywords: relative permeability, permeability reduction, polymer, water production, gel, diagram, selective control, flow in porous media, concentration, shear rate Subjects: Reservoir Fluid Dynamics, Improved and Enhanced Recovery, Flow in porous media This content is only available via PDF. 1993. Society of Petroleum Engineers You can access this article if you purchase or spend a download.