Low salinity surfactant alternating gas/CO2 flooding for enhanced oil recovery in sandstone reservoirs

Surfactant alternating gas/CO2 (SAG) flooding is a promising enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technology, which has the potential to improve oil production beyond primary and secondary water flooding methods. However, the performance of SAG flooding is restricted due to instability under high salinity reservoir conditions and excessive surfactant adsorption. One convenient and relatively low-cost option to overcome the limitations and improve the performance of SAG flooding is the use of low salinity water (LSW). In this study, an innovative and effective approach in the form of a low salinity surfactant (LSS) system was developed to suitably enhance the efficacy of immiscible SAG flooding in sandstone reservoir cores. The impact of LSS solutions on various mechanisms responsible for EOR including surface and interfacial tension (IFT), wettability alteration, CO2-foam stability, and surfactant adsorption were investigated. The initial IFT measurements revealed that oil-water IFT could be lowered using low salinity formation water (FW), however a more effective reduction was possible only when surfactants were introduced in such a system to form LSS solutions. Similarly, reductions in the contact angle (from initial 122 degrees to 45 degrees) were achieved with LSS solutions which demonstrated favorable wettability alteration of the reservoir rock from oil-wet to water-wet conditions. Foam stability experiments revealed that the half-life of CO2-foams generated with LSS solutions was appreciably higher, thus indicating the positive impact of low salinity water on foam stability. Additionally, anionic LSS solutions displayed reduced surfactant adsorption behavior onto sandstone cores, whereas for cationic LSS solutions the adsorption values were comparatively higher and exhibited a reverse adsorption trend with decreasing salinity. Finally, core flooding experiments illustrated that significantly higher residual oil could be mobilized and recovered through the tertiary immiscible low salinity surfactant alternating gas/CO2 (LSSAG) flooding. Nearly 23% original oil in place (OOIP) was produced by employing anionic LSS solution as the chemical slug during the LSSAG flooding. However, under similar experimental conditions, LSSAG flooding with cationic LSS solution recovered only about 16 %OOIP despite its comparatively better wettability alteration and IFT performance. In summary, using anionic LSS solutions constitute an effective means to suitably improve the performance of immiscible SAG flooding in sandstone reservoir cores.

Automated summary

A low salinity surfactant (LSS) system was developed to enhance the performance of immiscible surfactant alternating gas/CO2 (SAG) flooding in sandstone reservoir cores. LSS solutions showed positive impacts on various mechanisms responsible for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), including reducing surface and interfacial tension, altering wettability, improving CO2-foam stability, and decreasing surfactant adsorption.