Geochemical evaluation of low salinity hot water injection to enhance heavy oil recovery from carbonate reservoirs
Abstract Although low salinity water injection (LSWI) has recovered residual oil after the conventional waterflood, highly viscous oil has remained in heavy oil reservoirs. Hot water injection is an economic and practical method to improve oil mobility for viscous oil reservoirs. It potentially cont...
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doaj-49f23f1344a745c2b5c49e27382b640f2020-11-25T02:12:18ZengSpringerOpenPetroleum Science1672-51071995-82262018-11-0116236638110.1007/s12182-018-0274-6Geochemical evaluation of low salinity hot water injection to enhance heavy oil recovery from carbonate reservoirsJi Ho Lee0Kun Sang Lee1Department of Earth Resources and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang UniversityDepartment of Earth Resources and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang UniversityAbstract Although low salinity water injection (LSWI) has recovered residual oil after the conventional waterflood, highly viscous oil has remained in heavy oil reservoirs. Hot water injection is an economic and practical method to improve oil mobility for viscous oil reservoirs. It potentially controls temperature-dependent geochemical reactions underlying the LSWI mechanism and oil viscosity. Therefore, this study has modeled and evaluated a hybrid process of low salinity hot water injection (hot LSWI) to quantify synergistic effects in heavy oil reservoirs. In comparison to seawater injection (SWI) and LSWI, hot LSWI results in more cation ion-exchange (Ca2+ and Mg2+) and more wettability modification. Hot LSWI also reduces oil viscosity. In core-scaled systems, it increases oil recovery by 21% and 6% over SWI and LSWI. In a pilot-scaled reservoir, it produces additional oil by 6% and 3% over SWI and LSWI. Probabilistic forecasting with uncertainty assessment further evaluates the feasibility of hot LSWI to consider uncertainty in the pilot-scaled reservoir and observes enhanced heavy oil production. This study confirms the viability of hot LSWI due to synergistic effects including enhanced wettability modification and oil viscosity reduction effects.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12182-018-0274-6Low salinity water injectionHot water injectionWettability modificationGeochemical reactionViscosity reduction |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Ji Ho Lee Kun Sang Lee |
spellingShingle |
Ji Ho Lee Kun Sang Lee Geochemical evaluation of low salinity hot water injection to enhance heavy oil recovery from carbonate reservoirs Petroleum Science Low salinity water injection Hot water injection Wettability modification Geochemical reaction Viscosity reduction |
author_facet |
Ji Ho Lee Kun Sang Lee |
author_sort |
Ji Ho Lee |
title |
Geochemical evaluation of low salinity hot water injection to enhance heavy oil recovery from carbonate reservoirs |
title_short |
Geochemical evaluation of low salinity hot water injection to enhance heavy oil recovery from carbonate reservoirs |
title_full |
Geochemical evaluation of low salinity hot water injection to enhance heavy oil recovery from carbonate reservoirs |
title_fullStr |
Geochemical evaluation of low salinity hot water injection to enhance heavy oil recovery from carbonate reservoirs |
title_full_unstemmed |
Geochemical evaluation of low salinity hot water injection to enhance heavy oil recovery from carbonate reservoirs |
title_sort |
geochemical evaluation of low salinity hot water injection to enhance heavy oil recovery from carbonate reservoirs |
publisher |
SpringerOpen |
series |
Petroleum Science |
issn |
1672-5107 1995-8226 |
publishDate |
2018-11-01 |
description |
Abstract Although low salinity water injection (LSWI) has recovered residual oil after the conventional waterflood, highly viscous oil has remained in heavy oil reservoirs. Hot water injection is an economic and practical method to improve oil mobility for viscous oil reservoirs. It potentially controls temperature-dependent geochemical reactions underlying the LSWI mechanism and oil viscosity. Therefore, this study has modeled and evaluated a hybrid process of low salinity hot water injection (hot LSWI) to quantify synergistic effects in heavy oil reservoirs. In comparison to seawater injection (SWI) and LSWI, hot LSWI results in more cation ion-exchange (Ca2+ and Mg2+) and more wettability modification. Hot LSWI also reduces oil viscosity. In core-scaled systems, it increases oil recovery by 21% and 6% over SWI and LSWI. In a pilot-scaled reservoir, it produces additional oil by 6% and 3% over SWI and LSWI. Probabilistic forecasting with uncertainty assessment further evaluates the feasibility of hot LSWI to consider uncertainty in the pilot-scaled reservoir and observes enhanced heavy oil production. This study confirms the viability of hot LSWI due to synergistic effects including enhanced wettability modification and oil viscosity reduction effects. |
topic |
Low salinity water injection Hot water injection Wettability modification Geochemical reaction Viscosity reduction |
url |
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12182-018-0274-6 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT jiholee geochemicalevaluationoflowsalinityhotwaterinjectiontoenhanceheavyoilrecoveryfromcarbonatereservoirs AT kunsanglee geochemicalevaluationoflowsalinityhotwaterinjectiontoenhanceheavyoilrecoveryfromcarbonatereservoirs |
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1724910075789705216 |