On Using Ultrasonic-assisted Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR): Recent Practical Achievements and Future Prospects

Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is an increasingly important process in oil-gas fields. Several techniques have demonstrated their capability to recover a substantial amount of oil. This paper discusses the main field and laboratories developments achieved so far with ultrasonic-assisted EOR as well as different electronics and mechanical subcomponents designs of such probes. While encouraging results were achieved in the fields, most of the studies suggest to combine the ultrasonic devices with chemical agents, gas, or other fluids to significantly enhance the efficiency of recovery. In addition of their potential for EOR, powerful ultrasonic probes have another important area of application in oil fields which consists to remove recurrent plugs that may build up within the well. The paper also addresses different related emerging technologies which have been developed as prototypes in laboratories, mainly in the areas of medical field and process control and which can be potentially extended for EOR application. Ultrasonic-assisted EOR should take advantage of these studies to potentially widen its field deployment.