Microscopic oil displacement of water flooding and sweep efficiency of continuous gas injection could be improved by water alternating gas (WAG) injection. The WAG injection process aims to squeeze more oil out of the reservoirs; in this method, water and gas are alternatively injected into the reservoir. Also, availability of hydrocarbon or CO2 gases in the field makes it attractive for gas-ba...

In this study, a chemical additive made by a combination of polymer, alkaline, and silica nanoparticles is used to control the oil recovery and relative permeability curves. Various parametersincluding the type and concentration of polymer, alkaline, and nanosilica particles have been studied.To evaluate the efficiency of these additives, we performed unsteady state displaceme...

The majority of global petroleum is in the form of highly viscous heavy oil. Traditionally heavy oil in sands at shallow depths is accessed by large scale mining activities. Recently steam has been used to allow heavy oil extraction with greatly reduced surface disturbance. However, in situ thermal recovery processes can generate hydrogen sulphide, high levels of which are toxic to humans and c...

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is currently involved in a long term study using time-lapse multiple frequency electromagnetic (EM) characterization at a waterflood enhanced oil recovery (EOR) site in California operated by Chevron Heavy Oil Division in Lost Hills, California (Figure 1). The petroleum industry’s interest and the successful imaging results from this project suggest...

Nonionic surfactant-stabilised oil-in-water emulsions offer a potentially useful vehicle for transporting heavy crude oils from oilfields to refineries or distribution terminals. Prior to refining, separation of the oil from the emulsion is necessary. Previous studies have suggested that heating the emulsion is sufficient for destabilisation and recovery of the oil. The present work examines th...

A systematic study has been performed employing the use of a cationic surfactant didodecyldimethylammonium bromide (DDAB), an anionic surfactant sodium lignosulfonate (SLS) and water for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) from the underground porous media of the depleting oil field of Naharkotiya, Duliajan, in the Upper Assam basin, India. The strong electrostatic interaction between the oppositely ch...

Underground injection of carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is a common practice in the oil and gas industry and has often been cited as a proven method of sequestering CO2 (US DOE, 1999). Of all sequestration methods, this is probably the best understood, as carbon dioxide has been used in the oil industry for many years. Additionally, most oil fields have been relatively well char...

fractional flow analysis confirms the advantages of surfactant alternative gas injection (sag) in enhanced oil recovery, but an adsorption phenomenon that has been affected by several factors, weakens the effectiveness of sag injection. in this study, the effects of sacrificial agent, gas phase, and surfactant concentration on adsorption density on silica mineral were investigated by static and...