Experimental Investigation of a Self-adaptive Thickening Polymer Performance under High-Temperature–High-Salinity Reservoir Conditions

[Image: see text] A polymer flooding workflow was developed to diminish polymer degradation and minimize formation damage under high-temperature–high-salinity reservoir conditions by using a shear-thickening polymer (SAP) prepared in engineered waters. First, rock characterization, fluid–fluid analysis, and formation damage tests were conducted to shortlist the potential formulations of polymer solutions based on higher viscosity and less formation damage. Second, polymer core flooding experiments were conducted under reservoir conditions to investigate the performance of candidate polymer solutions on oil displacement efficiency (DE). For the first time, the compatibility between SAP and engineered water was systematically tested. The factors affecting bulk rheology, polymer retention, and oil DE, including polymer concentration, polymer type, salinity, and hardness, were experimentally investigated and compared with regular partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM). Results showed that compared with HPAM, the SAP solution led to lower formation damage and overall higher oil DE, especially in the first 0.4 pore volume of polymer injection. When using SAP prepared in twice-diluted and hardness-stripped seawater under low-salinity formation brine conditions, the DE was the highest (69.04%). The formation damage was reduced when the salinity and hardness of the base fluid were lower, whereas stripping the hardness had a more pronounced effect on reducing formation damage. The improved oil recovery potential due to the shear-thickening feature of SAP solutions and their better compatibility with engineered water compared to regular HPAM has been proven in this study. It was also found that the lower salinity and hardness of the engineered water further stimulated the enhanced oil recovery potential of SAP solutions. The contribution of this work relies on revealing how SAP prepared in different engineered waters affects incremental oil DE under harsh reservoir conditions based on experimental evidence and mechanism analysis. The novelty of this work lays the foundation for investigating the potential application of SAP on a pilot scale.