Research of phenolic crosslinker gel for profile control and oil displacement in high temperature and high salinity reservoirs

To further enhance oil recovery of high temperature and high salinity reservoir at Tahe Oilfield, field test results from profile control and oil displacement of gel were carried out in this article. Static and dynamic evaluations were performed through gel strength code method, environment scanning electron microscope, and physical simulation experiment devices. The field test results show that, under the conditions of high temperature (100.8 degrees C) and salinity (19.8 x 10(4) mg/L), the stable gel system was formed with gelling time range from 26 to 45 h, gel strength ranging from E to H, and dehydrating amount lower than 3.0% after ageing 60 days. Meanwhile, the microstructure is very stable. When the permeability and gel strength ranges from 0.212 to 0.970 m(2) and E to H, respectively, the plugging ratio is larger than 85%, and the plugging performance becomes better with the increase of permeability or gel strength. Due to the profile improvement rate of 99.8% and the oil recovery up to 28.5%, profile control and oil displacement technology of gel can effectively promote fluid diverting. The water cut reduced from 95.2% to 89.0% during field test carried out in Tahe Oilfield, which means that profile control and oil displacement technology of gel could stabilize oil production by water control effectively. Also, this technology has a wide application prospective that provides with strong technical support for further enhanced oil recovery in high temperature and high salinity reservoirs. (c) 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018, 135, 46075.