Polymer Flooding in Carbonates

Polymer Flooding in Carbonates. Carbonates, carbonates. A different level of difficulty, but also common points with other reservoirs: doing nothing (or just water injection) is not the panacea! Let’s see what we can do to make chemical EOR work in these complex reservoirs.

For more content, feel free to visit the Polymer Flooding Website.
For online training course, here’s our Polymer Flooding Academy and our YouTube channel.

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Setting the stage

In this short presentation, I review the literature on polymer flooding implementation in carbonate reservoirs and the main challenges.

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Field cases – carbonates

Here’s a table extracted from Manrique’s paper listing all the fields where Chemical EOR has been implemented in the past (DOI: 10.2118/100063-MS)

Location	Field	Pay zone/Reservoir	Formation	φ	K	Depth	Depth	Gravity	μ	Temp,
				%	md	ft,	m	°API	cp,	°F	deg C
Arkansas	Wesgum (a)	Smackover	Limestone	26.7	36		–	21.0	11.0	185	85
IIIinois	Tonti	Renoist Auxvases McClusky	Limestone	47.0	358	2,050	625	39.5	4.0	83	28
Kansas	Trapp	Lansing /	Limestone	18.4	150	3,215	980	38.0	1.4	97	36
		Kansas City					–
Kansas	Bates Unit	Mississippi	Limestone	15.5	20	3,700	1,128	42.0	0.6	117	47
Kansas	Harmony Hill	Lansing /	Limestone	12.5	3,100	3,130	954	38.6	3.7	105
		Kansas City					–				81
Louisiana	Old Lisbon	Pettit	Carbonate	16.0	45	5,300	1,615	34.9	2.5	178	81
Nebraska	Dry Creek	Lansing /	Limestone	13.0	4,100	4,100	1,250	31.0	9.0	120	49
		Kansas City					–
New Mexico	Vacuum	San Andres	Dolomite	10.6	21	4,700	1,433	37.0	1.5	100	38
New Mexico	Vacuum	Grayburg/San Andres	Dolomite	11.5	17	4,500	1,372	37.0	1.2	101	38
New Mexico	Vacuum	San Andres	Dolomite	11.6	9	4,720	1,439	38.0	1.5	105	41
North Dakota	Blue Buttes	Madison	Limestone	9.6	22	9,400	2,865	42.0	0.3	240	116
Oklahoma	Fitts	Viola	Limestone	13.6	19	3,900	1,189	39.0	3.2	119	48
Oklahoma	Fitts	Cromwell 60, Hunton, Viola	Limestone / Sandstone	17.5	7	3,250	991	40.0	4.0	115	46
	(E. Fittts Unit)						–
Oklahoma	Balko South	Kansas City	Limestone	21.0	535	6,100	1,859	40.0	1.8	125	52
Oklahoma	Fitts	Cromwell, Viola, Hunton	Carbonate	17.5	751	3,250	991	40.0	4.0	115	46
Oklahoma	Stanley	Burbank	Carbonate	18.0	300	3,000	914	39.0	105.0	162	72
Texas	C-Bar	San Andres	Dolomite	10.0	6	3,350	1,021	36.0	5.0	107	42
Texas	Dune	San Andres	Dolomite	14.0	28	3,350	1,021	32.0	3.5	95	35
Texas	Goldsmith 5600	Clearfork	Dolomite	15.0	28	5,600	1,707	32.0	3.5	100	38
Texas	McElroy	Grayburg	Dolomite	13.0	37	2,800	853	32.0	2.7	88	31
Texas	Garza	San Andres	Limestone	19.8	4	2,900	884	36.0	2.5	90	32
Texas	Westbrook	Clearfork	Dolomite	7.4	6	3,000	914	26.0	9.1	90	32
Texas	Lucy N.	Pennsylvanian	Limestone	9.7	30	7,640	2,329	40.0	0.4	140	60
Texas	Salt Creek	Canyon Reef	Limestone	12.0	13	6,300	1,920	39.2	0.9	129	54
Texas	Stephens County Regular	Caddo (ECU)	Limestone	13,,2	9	3,200	975	39.0	2.7	113	45
Texas	Slaughter	San Andres	Dolomite	11.2	6	5,000	1,524	31.0	1.5	110	43
Texas	S. Robertson	Glorieta/Clearfork	Dolomite	7.9	39	5,800	1,768	34.0	1.0	107	42
Texas	Cogdell	Canyon Reef	Limestone	9.6	5	6,800	2,073	41.7	0.6	128	53
Texas	Levelland	San Andres	Dolomite	10.0	1	4,720	1,439	30.5	1.5	107	42
Texas	Cowden North	Grayburg/San Andres	Limestone / Dolomite	10.1	4	4,450	1,356	34.0	1.6	94	34
Texas	Mabee	San Andres	Dolomite	10.5	2	4,700	1,433	32.0	2.4	106	41
Texas	Jordan	San Andres	Dolomite	10.5	6	3,600	1,097	34.0	2.8	95	35
Texas	McElroy	Grayburg/San Andres	Dolomite	11.0	5	3,000	914	32.0	2.6	95	35
Texas	Penwell	San Andres	Dolomite	11.0	2	3,800	1,158	32.0	4.5	108	42
Texas	Harris	Glorieta	Dolomite	8.6	3	5,818	1,773	30.8	3.1	115	46
Texas	Dollarhide (Clearfork)	Clearfork	Dolomite	11.6	9	6,500	1,981	37.0	0.6	110	43
Texas	South Cowden	Grayburg	Dolomite	13.0	3	4,500	1,372	34.0	3.5	103	39
Texas	Smyer	Clearfork	Carbonate	8.3	11	5,900	1,798	27.0	5.0	112	44
Texas	North Riley	Clearfork	Carbonate	7.7	12	6,300	1,920	32.0	2.6	104	40
Texas	Salt Creek	Canyon Reef	Limestone	12.0	20	6,500	1,981	39.0	6.0	130	54
Texas	Headlee North	Headlee North	Limestone	4.1	0	12,000	3,658	47.0	0.7	190	88
Texas	Foster	San Andres	Dolomite	12.0	6	4,200	1,280	34.0	1.2	101	38
Texas	Wichita County Reg. (a)	Gunsight	Carbonate	22.0	53	1,750	533	42.0	2.2	89	32
Texas	Stephens County Regular	Caddo Lime	Limestone	14.5	12	3,200	975	40.0	2.3	106	41
Texas	Bob Slaughter Block (a)	San Andres	Dolomite	12.0	6	5,000	1,524	31.4	1.3	109	43
Texas	Robertson	Clearfork	Carbonate	7.8	2	6,450	1,966	34.0	1.1	110	43
Texas	Sand Hills	Tubb	Carbonate	12.0	27	4,500	1,372	35.0	2.5	148	64
Texas	McCamey	Grayburg	Carbonate	14.0	18	2,100	640	26.0	28.0	80	27
		San Andres					–
Texas	Keystone	Colby	Dolomite	12.0	5	330	101	37.0	6.0	87	31
Utah	Aneth Unit	Paradox	Limestone	10.6	18	5,300	1,615	47.0	0.6	134	57
Wyoming	Byron	Embar / Tensleep	Limestone / Sandstone	13.9	41	5,600	1,707	23.0	17.0	121	49
Wyoming	Grass Creek	Phosphoria	Carbonate	21.6	20	4,300	1,311	24.0	15.0	105	41
Wyoming	Oregon Basin	North Embar	Limestone	20.2	68	3,370	1,027	22.5	9.8	108	42
Wyoming	Oregon Basin	South Embar	Limestone	19.5	39	3,600	1,097	20.9	15.7	110	43
Texas	Yates	San Andres	Dolomite	15.0	100	1,400	427	30.0	6.0	82	28
Wyoming	Cottonwood Creek	Phosphoria	Limestone	10.4	16	7,900	2,408	30.0	2.8	150	66
				Porosity (%)	Permeability (mD)	Depth (ft)	Depth (m)	Oil gravity (°API )	Oil viscosity (cP)	Fahrenheit	Celsius
			MIN	4	0.3	330	101	21	0.3	80	27
			MAX	47	4,100	12,000	3,658	47	105	240	116
			AVERAGE	14	182	4,561	1,390	35	6	116	47
			MEDIAN	12	18	4,450	1,356	34	3	108	43