Experimental Analysis of Conformance Control Methods

Over the last decades, water-shut off and other compliance issues have become more relevant. The optimal use of non-mobilised mobile oil in maturen oil fields requires an understanding of compliance issues. The heterogeneity of reservoir rocks, the main cause of conformity problems, is hardly comparable or reproducible in experiments. A microfluidic investigation with models that always show the same grain structure with a fixed porosity and permeability allows a direct comparison of the different methods for "water-shut off" in a porous structure. Optical monitoring allows the observation of the mechanism on a pore scale and the fluid-fluid interactions and behaviour at the interfaces.

Based on a literature review, methods such as in-situ crosslinking polymer gels and microgels are evaluated with regard to experimental screening. In a subsequent series of tests, the selected agents are tested in a micro model with properties of a mature oil field under identical conditions. In the experiments, among other things, the performance of the products is investigated, e.g. if the fluid flow is controlled in the opposite direction, depending on whether the fluid is inserted into an injector or a producer. Furthermore, the mechanism responsible for a reduction in dilution and thus for a higher oil yield is investigated in various analyses. This project aims to improve the understanding of compliance control processes for products to be applied in the field.

The research report has been published.