Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Egyptian petroleum research institute, Nasr city, Cairo, Egypt
2
Section Head of Petroleum department , Faculty of Petroleum and Mining Engineering, Suez University, Suez, Egypt
3
suez University, Faculty of Petroleum and Mining Engineering, Department of Petroleum Refining and Petrochemical Engineering, Egypt
4
DEVELOP DEPARTMENT, Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute, EGYPT
5
Petroleum application department , Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute
6
PROCESSES DESIGN & DEVELOP DEPARTMENT, Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute, EGYPT
Abstract
In this work, the steam injection, polymer, and surfactant were used to recover heavy crude oil API 18(American Petroleum Institute) production at 150, 200,250, and 300 oC individually. The results showed that the best recovery was at 300 oC. Three sets of experiments were carried out to integrate steam injection with polymer, surfactant, and polymer/surfactant solutions at the same temperatures to investigate the effectiveness of the integration mechanism for improving oil recovery. The obtained results indicated that, the steam is a promising method for the EOR (Enhanced Oil Recovery) of heavy crude oil. It was found that the final recovery for water flooding ranges from 39.9% to 41.86%. When the core was proceeded by polymer/surfactant injection, additional oil production was recovered. The flooding experiments showed that the maximum oil recovery was obtained using steam integrated with polymer/surfactant solution (64.3 %). In comparison, steam exhibited oil recovery equal to 59.2 % with surfactant and 58.1% with polymer at the same temperature (300 oC). The maximum integration process was pronounced by steam with polymer/surfactant solution. This finding may be due to reducing the viscosity by steam which enhances the sweeping process by polymer, in the presence of surfactant, which reduces the interfacial tension and increases wettability alteration. As a result, the emulsion formed, and the heavy oil recovery increased.
Keywords
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