Polymer EOR
www.PolymerEOR.com

"Free Trapped Oil" ^sm

What is Polymer EOR?

"Polymer EOR" also known as Polymer Enhanced Oil Recovery and Polymer Flooding, is a dramatic improvement in waterflooding and quickly becoming one of the preferred "Enhanced Oil Recovery" (EOR) technologies used for improving oil recovery - particularly in older and declining oil wells/oil reservoirs. Polymer flooding is also referred to as "chemical flooding" as well as "Chemical EOR." 

To further define "polymer flooding," one must also know what a polymer is. 

What is "polymer"? 

Poly = many

mer =  part

So, polymer, roughly defined, means "many parts."

In polymer flooding, the polymers used reduces the "surface tension" between the oil and the oil-containing rock within the oil reservoir, "freeing" the trapped oil making it easier to flow to the production well(s). 

What Polyacrylamide?

Polyacrylamide powder or "PAM" is a non-toxic powder that is a long-chain molecule first used in cleaning wastewater at wastewater treatment plants. In polymer flooding, PAM makes the water "gel" greatly improving the production of oil.  In polymer flooding, polymer, or polymers, are used to make the water injected into the (injection well) oil reservoirs more "viscous" or thick, much like a gel.  This greatly improves oil production, and is particularly beneficial in heavy oil recovery. 

Several of the leading benefits of Polymer EOR include: 

• Improved oil recovery 

• Increased "sweep efficiency"

• Significantly less water required when compared with typical water-flooding & steam injection 

• Superior EOR technology with "heavy oil" formations/reservoirs with low viscosity and where Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) is not suitable

How does Polymer EOR work?

One of the primary EOR technologies is waterflood wherein water is injected into the reservoir to drive the oil to a production wellbore.  However, oil and water are "immiscible" fluids meaning that they do not mix or blend with each other. This means that oil and water can NOT displace the other within an oil reservoir. 

In polymer flooding, a water-soluble polymer such as Polyacrylamide or "Pam" is added to the water in the waterflood. This increases the viscosity of the water to that of a gel making the oil and water greatly improving the efficiency of the waterflood. 

There are three potential ways in which a polymer flood can make the oil recovery process more efficient: (1) through the effects of polymers on fractional flow, (2) by decreasing the water/oil mobility ratio, and (3) by diverting injected water from zones that have been swept.

A few of the ever-growing list of EOR Technologies include;

• ASP flooding

• Chemical EOR

• Chemical Flooding 

• CO2-EOR

• CO2 Flooding

• CO2 Injection 

• Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) technologies 

• Gas EOR

• Gas Injection 

• Microbial EOR

• Miscible Gas

• Nitrogen Injection 

• Polymer Flooding 

• Polymer Injection

• Solar EOR 

• Steam Injection 

• Surfactant EOR

• Surfactant Flooding

• Thermal EOR

EOR Technologies is a new company being formed and one of very few EOR "technology neutral" companies that deliver the maximum oil production for the least cost. This is determined by reservoir/oil field analysis, history, present conditions and operations. 

Over the past forty years, the enhanced oil recovery industry has produced a number of excellent and proven EOR technologies.  However, the optimum EOR technology for any one particular client with declining oil production, is dependent on a number of variables that must be identified and understood before selecting the correct EOR technology, including;

• Specific oil reservoir 

• Reservoir type & condition

• Depth of pay zone

• Interfacial tension

• Oil composition

• Oil gravity

• Oil reserve

• Overall condition of well/wellbore

• Permeability

• Porosity

• Reservoir's brine salinity (NaCl) content

• Reservoir's temperature

• Tracer Testing

• Working condition of reservoir 

among others. 

The "optimum" EOR technology for one reservoir and pay zone may not be the optimum EOR technology for another - even within the same oil field. That's why we are "EOR technology neutral." We apply the optimum EOR technology for each client's specific requirements for maximizing our client's oil recovery, at the least possible cost. 

Enhanced oil recovery represents a significant opportunity for companies with declining oil production to significantly increase their oil production and revenues through our range of EOR technologies and services.

How much more oil can we produce from our "mature" oil field and wells? 

Enhanced oil recovery or "EOR" represents a significant opportunity for companies with declining oil production to significantly increase their oil production and revenues through our range of EOR technologies and services. 

As seen above, there are a number of variables that determine the potential increase in production for any particular application. 

Some EOR technologies can have a significant reversal in oil production. And by "significant," this could mean anywhere from a 100% increase in oil production to a 500% increase in oil production. 

Would increasing your oil production from 5 bbls/day to 10 bbls/day for a 100% increase in oil production make a difference to your company? 

How about going from 10 bbls/day to 50 bbls/day for a 500% increase in oil production. That's a possibility with EOR technologies such as polymer flooding!

What is mobility and mobility control within an oil reservoir?

Mobility is the ratio of its relative permeability in a "porous" medium to its viscosity. By reducing water's mobility - through the increase of its' viscosity by adding a polymer (PAM) the water's properties become nearly identical to the oil within the reservoir. 

In polymer flooding (one of the "Chemical EOR" technologies) water is made more "viscous" by adding a polymer in order to obtain a "mobility ratio" of 1 between water used in waterflooding and the oil in the target pay zone; i.e. the same mobility for the oil and the water. 

In water with low a low salinity content, polymer flooding can easily boost the viscosity of water making the polymer flooding process more efficient requiring less water.

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