Simulation of Surfactant Flooding in Carbonate Reservoir Using a High-Resolution Outcrop Model

Conventional carbonate reservoirs contain most of the world’s oil and gas reserves. However, the recovery factors after primary and secondary oil recovery remain low overall. Surfactant-based enhanced oil recovery can be used to enhanced oil recovery by changing the wettability of the rock and reducing the interfacial tension.

In this study, we incorporated the experimentally validated surfactant models into a high-resolution outcrop analogue model. We built core-scale simulation models based on the experimental data to identify the key physical mechanisms that lead to increased oil recovery. We then parametrise the respective models in order to obtain a better understanding of physico-chemical processes during surfactant injection. Using advanced assisted history-matching methods, we were able to match the laboratory results for both the Spontaneous Imbibition and core flooding.

We then implemented the results from the core-scale at a larger scale i.e., inter-well scale model. We used a realistic analogue outcrop for the Shuaiba and Kharaib formations in the Middle East, in order to understand how complex geological structures and multi-scale heterogeneities impact the recovery processes and effectiveness of surfactant-based enhanced oil recovery.