The Feasibility of ASP Flooding with Low Alkali Concentration in Heterogeneous Reservoirs

In this paper, as far as the ASP flooding in the pilot area of Daqing oilfield is concerned, the effect of apparent viscosity of ASP solution on enhanced oil recovery have been studied by comparison of experiments on artificial heterogeneous cores with on natural cores. The results showed that the decrease in the concentration of alkali could increase the apparent viscosity of ASP solutions, namely, the apparent viscosity increased and the IFT couldn’t get ultra low, and the oil recovery efficiency by ASP solution with a reasonably lower concentration of alkali was not less than that with a higher concentration of alkali and ultra low IFT. The experiments with models having impermeable interlayers between adjacent layers, and by means of “co-injection and separate production” showed that the ASP solution with a higher viscosity and a lower alkali concentration was more beneficial to starting-up medium and low permeability layers and enhancing total oil recovery. Therefore, to heterogeneous reservoir, as factors of affecting oil recovery, the apparent viscosity may be more important than the ultralow IFT. Furthermore, on the premise that the concentration of surfactant and the concentration of polymer keep constant, ASP flooding with low alkali concentration not only enlarges the selectable range of surfactants and decreases the cost of ASP flooding, but also solves the problem of alkali scales. Finally, a dynamic absorption experiment was performed with a 05 meter long linked-up natural core to determine alkali wastage in formation. The result being accord with the application case in the pilot confirmed that it was not necessary to add the alkali too much in ASP flooding from a new direction.