Enhanced oil recovery in complex reservoirs: Challenges and methods

Enhanced oil recovery draws increasingly interests from the research and development phases to oilfield implementation worldwide. Due to the complexity of the developed reservoirs and requirement of carbon footprint reduction, new innovations are urgently needed to increase enhanced oil recovery efficiency and/or reduce emissions simultane- ously. This paper presents the strategies to improve the enhanced oil recovery performance of carbon dioxide flooding, polymer flooding and imbibition in complex reservoirs. Field trials conducted at Mahu reservoirs demonstrated the potential of nanoemulsion imbibition in stimulating tight oil recovery. These results can provide constructive envision for the development and application of enhanced oil recovery technologies for challenging systems.Document Type: PerspectiveCited as: Wu, R., Wei, B., Li, S., Zhang, Y., Luo, Q. Enhanced oil recovery in complex reservoirs: Challenges and methods. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2023, 10(3): 208-212. https://doi.org/10.46690/ager.2023.12.0