1887

Abstract

Summary

The Lower Burgan is a deep reservoir in Abdali field of North Kuwait which bears extra-heavy oil of in-situ viscosity up to 20,000 cP. As thermal methods are not applicable due to depth, a hybrid production strategy is being investigated that will combine polymer flooding and cold solvent injection. The polymer flooding component will use the field effluent water to enable major cost savings in relation to water sourcing and treatment. Its extremely high salinity (260,000 mg/L TDS with 19,000 mg/L divalents) together with the reservoir temperature of 190°F is challenging.

An extensive lab evaluation was performed to improve the petrophysical characterization of the unconsolidated reservoir sand, to qualify polymers that can withstand the reservoir conditions and to generate data for numerical modeling. Polymers from four manufacturers were evaluated through viscometry, long-term stability under anaerobic reservoir conditions, resistance to mechanical degradation and injectivity. The structure and mineralogical composition of the reservoir sand were analyzed before capillary pressure and relative permeability data were generated using adapted procedures. Finally, coreflood tests were performed to assess the quality of the in-depth polymer propagation and determine the representative relevant parameters for the simulation dataset.

Given the reservoir conditions, data available in the literature clearly indicated that ATBS-acrylamide copolymer chemistry was required. Different ATBS levels were tested ranging from 10 to 70 mol% to optimize techno-economic feasibility. While all polymers exhibited comparable performances in terms of thickening ability, resistance to mechanical degradation and injectivity in permeabilities representative of that of the reservoir, the long-term anaerobic aging tests revealed that 55 mol% was the minimal ATBS content to establish stability over at least 6 months. Reservoir rock analysis revealed that the rock is slightly oil-wet, homogeneous and composed of monodispersed quartz grains with marginal clays and no cementation, thereby resulting in a favorable permeability of ∼1000 mD. Polymer injection coreflood tests demonstrated good in-depth propagation, with Resistance Factors matching the injected relative viscosity, low adsorption (40 to 80 µg/g) and almost no rheo-thickening at near-wellbore velocities, despite the relatively high polymer concentrations investigated (∼4000 mg/L).

This study proves that ATBS-based polymers are suitable for extreme salinities and shows that ATBS levels can be tuned to establish economic viability. Coreflood tests also demonstrate the technical feasibility of polymer flooding to unlock massive reserves from a deep extra-heavy oil reservoir. Simulations are being conducted to design a field pilot, which will be the next step for the project.

© EAGE Publications BV
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2025-04-02
2026-02-06

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Polymer Flooding to Unlock Extra-Heavy Oil from a Deep Northern Kuwait Clastic Field: Feasibility Investigation
Conference Proceedings 2025, 1 (2025); https://doi.org/10.3997/2214-4609.202531028
/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.202531028
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