Experimental investigation on plugging performance of nanospheres in low-permeability reservoir with bottom water

Abstract

The oil production rate decreases rapidly after a short period of high yield from acidizing or fracturing in low-permeability reservoirs. In this paper, nanospheres are applied before the fracturing step, which possess the ability to absorb water and expand in the water layer, reducing the flow capacity of bottom water and finally enhancing the oil recovery. The plugging performance is investigated by nanosphere displacement  experiments in cores and sand-packs, which explores the plugging effect in the oil layer, the oil-water transition zones, the water layer and the fracturing zones. In addition, a nuclear magnetic resonance experiment is conducted to study the flow mechanism of nanospheres and determine the plugging rates, which can characterize the plugging performance of nanospheres in porous media. The results show that the plugging rate is 85.84% and 78.65% on the water layer and oil-water transition zone, respectively, and 94.36% in the fracturing zone. Meanwhile, the nanospheres cannot plug the oil layer. The formation pressure has a less considerable effect on the plugging performance of nanospheres. The nanospheres have good injectivity, and the intensity variations in small, medium and large pores account for 34.46%, 13.22% and 52.32%, respectively. Overall, this paper explores the feasibility of applying nanospheres for water plugging and enhanced oil recovery.

Cited as: Tang, M., Wang, C., Deng, X., Yang, H., Lu, J., Yu, H. Experimental investigation on plugging performance of nanospheres in low-permeability reservoir with bottom water. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2022, 6(2): 95-103. https://doi.org/10.46690/ager.2022.02.02

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