Evaluating the Transport Behavior of CO2 Foam in the Presence of Crude Oil under High-Temperature and High-Salinity Conditions for Carbonate Reservoirs

An amine-based surfactant, Duomeen TTM, was evaluated for foam flooding in carbonate rock at high temperature (120 degrees C), high salinity (22% total dissolved solids), and CO2-oil miscible conditions. We demonstrate enhanced oil recovery by utilizing CO, foam under miscible conditions in the presence of crude oil. The foam was generated in situ by both co-injection and surfactant alternating gas injection modes. Foam transport and propagation were characterized as a function of the foam quality, shear rate, permeability, surfactant concentration, and method of injection. Finally, we utilize the experimental results to obtain the parameters for the STARS foam model by optimizing multiple variables related to the dry out, shear thinning, and surfactant concentration effects on foam transport. Enhanced oil recovery utilizing CO2 foam under miscible conditions in the presence of SMY crude oil was able to decrease oil saturation to 3.0%. It was also determined that significantly more injected pore volumes were required for the foam to reach the steady state in the presence of SMY crude oil. A foam simulation process in a heterogeneous reservoir is conducted applying the parameters obtained. The TTM CO2 foam generated significantly reduces the mobility of CO2 in the high permeability layers, which results in an improved swept volume in the low permeability zone that significantly improves oil recovery when epoil = 1 and fmoil = 0.5. Oil saturation parameters play important roles in the effectiveness of CO2 foam: large epoil and small fmoil will reduce the efficiency for TTM CO2 foam.