The study on exploitation potential of original low-oil-saturation reservoirs

Abstract

It is preliminary estimated that the proved geological reserves of original low-oil-saturation reservoirs (OLOSRs) of 54 blocks in China are more than 820 million tons. As same as the high water-cut stage of a reservoir after water flooding, the initial water cut of OLOSRS is higher than 80%. The industrial application of EOR technology could efficiently enhance oil recovery rate from 8.4% to 20.1% of reservoirs after water flooding. The suitable measurements of EOR to the OLOSRs probably have a profound impact on achieving higher oilfield reserves and production. In this paper, the main characteristics and reserves potential of OLOSRs have been studied by investigations and laboratory experiments. The relationship between initial oil saturation and displacement efficiency is also analyzed. The feasibility of EOR technologies for different OLOSRs is discussed. The results show that the OLOSRs could be divided into two categories (primary and secondary) by origin of low oil saturation. The two categories contain abundant reserves in China’s major oilfields, but their occurrence states of crude oil are quite different. If the average oil saturation of the OLOSR is defined at 40%, there are 13.1%–54.2% crude oil that could be recovered by using the existing EOR technology, especially in the primary OLOSRs with low permeability and the secondary OLOSRs with high permeability. Keywords: Low oil saturation, Transition zones, Occurrence state, Oil displacement efficiency, Gas flooding, Surfactant flooding