DILUTE SURFACTANT METHODS FOR CARBONATE FORMATIONS

There are many carbonate reservoirs in US (and the world) with light oil and fracture pressure below its minimum miscibility pressure (or reservoir may be naturally fractured). Many carbonate reservoirs are naturally fractured. Waterflooding is effective in fractured reservoirs, if the formation is water-wet. Many fractured carbonate reservoirs, however, are mixed-wet and recoveries with conventional methods are low (less than 10%). Thermal and miscible tertiary recovery techniques are not effective in these reservoirs. Surfactant flooding (or huff-n-puff) is the only hope, yet it was developed for sandstone reservoirs in the past. The goal of this research is to evaluate dilute (hence relatively inexpensive) surfactant methods for carbonate formations and identify conditions under which they can be effective. We have conducted adsorption, phase behavior and wettability studies. Addition of Na{sub 2}CO{sub 3} decreases IFT with a minimum at about 0.2 M. Addition of surfactant decreases IFT further. In the absence of surfactant the minerals are oil wet after aging with crude oil. Addition of surfactant solution decreases the contact angle to intermediate wettability. Addition of Na{sub 2}CO{sub 3} decreases anionic surfactant adsorption on calcite surface. Plans for the next quarter include conducting adsorption, phase behavior and wettability studies