Study of polymer flooding and intelligent well technology for improved oil recovery

Abstract

The application of Intelligent Well Technology (IWT) to improve efficiency of a polymer flooding operation has been studied under three cases using a 3D model implemented in reservoir simulation software. The base case was the simulation study of a polymer flood with a relatively low oil recovery, which led to the least produced water into the producer well. The second case was incorporating IWT into the producer well where production control was achieved via the operation of inflow control valves (ICVs) installed in each productive segment of the wells. The reactive control strategy responded to changes in segment water cut, which led to improved sweep and, hence, oil recovery at 63 %. A third case was considered where injection control was performed via the same conditions as the producer well but, in this instance, the outflow control valves (OCVs) responded to changes in water cut at the injection wells. This oil recovery under injection control also improved to 68 %, but with higher water cuts. The study results showed that a better sweep of oil is possible despite the high water cuts when downhole segment conditions are adequately responded to. Thus, concluding that polymer flooding can be improved by incorporating IWT through production or injection control for a multi-layered heterogeneous reservoir.