Effect of Fracture Geometrical Properties on Oil Recovery by Polymer Flooding: an Experimental Approach

In this study the effect of fracture characteristic properties including fracture spacing, orientation, distribution and discontinuity on oil recovery factor during polymer flooding in fractured 5-spot models has been experimentally investigated. The experiments were carried out on a horizontal glass micromodel with a novel design at pre-selected fixed flow rates in which Hydrolyzed Polyacrylamid (HPAM) was used. Injection process was continuously monitored by use of a digital camera system and oil saturation was estimated from image analysis technique. It has been observed when fracture orientation is in flow direction the oil recovery reaches its minimum value as compared to the other fracture orientations. Also the effect of fracture spacing, fracture distribution and fracture discontinuity has been observed and presented in this work.

Keywords:

Fractured 5-Spot Model , Fracture Geometrical Characteristics , Polymer Flooding , Micromodel