Navigating the Future: A Numerical Study of Natural Polymers and CO2 in Offshore Applications

Abstract

Abstract While water alternating gas (WAG) injection is a prevalent technique in enhanced oil recovery, it faces significant challenges in heterogeneous and high permeability reservoirs. The primary issue is the rapid gas breakthrough and poor sweep efficiency due to gas segregation in the upper sections of the reservoir, leaving lower areas unswept. To address these limitations, this paper explores a novel method of applying polymer-WAG (PWAG) flooding, to augment the sweep efficiency of traditional WAG processes. A key feature of PWAG is the continuous injection of polymer-enhanced water throughout the WAG cycle. Our study focuses on evaluating the impact of various natural polymers on water enhancement during the WAG cycle in heterogeneous reservoir environments. The findings indicate a notable performance improvement, with an increase in efficiency ranging from 6-10% when using the proposed natural polymers. This research provides insights into the viability of natural polymers in optimizing WAG processes, offering a promising avenue for more effective oil recovery in challenging reservoir conditions.