Low gas-liquid ratio foam flooding for conventional heavy oil

The recovery of heavy oil by water flooding is 10% lower than that of conventional crude oil,so enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is of great significance for heavy oil.In this paper,foam flooding with a gas-liquid ratio (GLR) of 0.2:1 for the Zhuangxi heavy oil (325 mPa·s at 55 °C) was performed on cores,sand packs and plate model.In sand pack tests,polymer enhanced foam flooding increased oil recovery by 39.8%,which was 11.4% higher than that for alkali/surfactant/polymer (ASP) flooding under the same conditions.Polymer enhanced foam flooding in plate models shows that the low GLR foam flooding increased oil recovery by about 30%,even when the extended water flooding was finished at 90% water cut.Moreover,it was discovered by microscopy that foam was more stable in heavy oil than in light oil.These results confirm that low GLR foam flooding is a promising technology for displacing conventional heavy oil.