Experimental investigations on the fluid flow mechanism in porous media of enhanced oil recovery by alkli/surfactant/polymer flooding

The fluid flow mechanism in porous media of enhanced oil recovery by Alkli/ Surfactant/ Polymer (ASP) flooding is investigated by measuring production performance, pressure distribution and saturation distribution through installing differential pressure transducers and saturation measuring probes in a physical model of vertical heterogeneous reservoir. The fluid flow variation in porous media is the main reason of enhanced oil recovery of ASP flooding. The pressure field and saturation field are nonlinearly coupled together and the interaction between them results in the fluid flow variation in the reservoir. In a vertical heterogeneous reservoir, the ASP agents initially flow in the high permeability layer, and fluid changes the flow direction toward the low and the middle permeability layers because the resistance in the high permeability layer is increased under the physical and chemical action of adsorption, retention and emulsion. ASP flooding displaces out not only the residual oil in the high permeability layer, but also the remaining oil in the low and the middle permeability layers by increasing swept volume and displacing efficiency.