CONFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT USING GELS

This technical progress report describes work performed from June 20 through December 19, 2001, for the project, ''Conformance Improvement Using Gels''. Interest has increased in some new polymeric products that purport to substantially reduce permeability to water while causing minimum permeability reduction to oil. In view of this interest, we are currently studying BJ's Aqua Con. Results from six corefloods revealed that the Aqua Con gelant consistently reduced permeability to water more than that to oil. However, the magnitude of the disproportionate permeability reduction varied significantly for the various experiments. Thus, as with most materials tested to date, the issue of reproducibility and control of the disproportionate permeability remains to be resolved. Concern exists about the ability of gels to resist washout after placement in fractures. We examined whether a width constriction in the middle of a fracture would cause different gel washout behavior upstream versus downstream of the constriction. Tests were performed using a formed Cr(III)-acetate-HPAM gel in a 48-in.-long fracture with three sections of equal length, but with widths of 0.08-, 0.02-, and 0.08-in., respectively. The pressure gradients during gel extrusion (i.e., placement) were similar in the two 0.08-in.-wide fracture sections, even though they were separated by a 0.02-in.-wide fracture section. The constriction associated with the middle fracture section may have inhibited gel washout during the first pulse of brine injection after gel placement. However, during subsequent phases of brine injection, the constriction did not inhibit washout in the upstream fracture section any more than in the downstream section