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Abstract

Summary

This paper describes the first pore scale in-situ observations of wetting alteration on clays during tertiary low salinity flooding. Observations in the laboratory over a range of scales show that reducing the salinity of injected water can alter the wetting state of a rock, making it more water-wet. However, there remains a poor understanding of how this alteration impacts the distribution of fluids over the pore and pore network scale and how it leads to additional oil recovery. In this work, X-ray micro-CT scanning is used to image an unsteady state experiment of tertiary low salinity water flooding in a Berea sandstone core with an altered wettability due to exposure to crude oil. Oil was trapped heterogeneously, at a saturation of 0.62, after flooding with high salinity brine. Subsequent flooding with low salinity brine led to an oil production of three percentage points. To understand the mechanisms for this additional recovery, we characterise the wetting state of the sample using imagery of fluid-solid fractional wetting and fluid pore occupancy analysis. Pore occupancy analysis shows that there is a redistribution of oil from large pores to small pores during low salinity flooding. We observe a decrease in the solid surface area covered by the oil after low salinity flooding, consistent with a change to a less oil-wetting state. Pore by pore analysis of the mineral surface area covered by the oil shows that the wetting alteration during low salinity flooding is more significant on clays which likely control the behaviour. Whilst there was only three percentage points of additional recovery during low salinity flooding, the wetting alteration led to the redistribution of 22% of oil within the rock. The success of low salinity water flooding depends on a wetting alteration and oil mobilisation as well as a pore structure which can facilitate the production of the mobilised oil.

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/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.202133132
2021-04-19
2024-04-27

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Pore Scale Observations of Wetting Alteration During Low Salinity Water Flooding Using X-Ray Micro-CT
Conference Proceedings 2021, 1 (2021); https://doi.org/10.3997/2214-4609.202133132
/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.202133132
/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.202133132
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