Petroleum Sulfonates as Oil Displacement Agents and Application to Gudao Oil Field

Abstract

In terms of the condition of injection of water after polymer flooding of the Gudao oil field (Shengli, China), the following water quickly broke though the bank to the production wells, while most of residual oil remained in the formation. To solve the problem, two types of petroleum sulfonates made in China were selected to form an oil displacement agent (ODA) solution. The petroleum sulfonate available for crude oil from the Gudao oil field with the ultra-low interfacial tension can be found by drawing an oil/water interfacial tension contour diagram. The results show that the interfacial tension can be lower than 3.6 × 10⁻⁴ mN/m when the active agent is contained with 0.25% Kelamayi petroleum sulfonate (KPS) + 0.225% Anqing petroleum sulfonate (APS) and if the agent reduces water resistance by entering the tiny pore to improve sweep coefficient and oil displacement efficiency. The polymer has no influence on the balanced value of interfacial tension but delays the interfacial tension to reach the balance. Pouring 0.3 pore volume (PV) high-efficient ODA into reservoir can improve 17% oil recovery (OR). Synergistic effects of two types of petroleum sulfonate with low cost to enhance OR will have an excellent prospect for enhanced oil recovery (EOR).

Keywords:

• dynamic interfacial tension
• interfacial tension isogram
• oil displacement agent
• petroleum sulfonate
• polymer flooding

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was carried out as a part of the program of the Research on Enhance Oil Recovery After Polymer Flooding and is supported by China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation.