The influence of permeability and heterogeneity on chemical flooding efficiency and remaining oil distribution—based on NMR displacement imaging

To investigate the impact of permeability and heterogeneity on oil displacement efficiency and remaining oil distribution of chemical flooding, three groups of high and ultrahigh permeability core samples from an ultrahigh water-cut oilfield in western China were selected as the research objects in this study. High-pressure mercury injection, scanning electron microscopy, wettability test, and other methods were used to characterize the reservoir properties of core samples. Six groups of experiments were performed using the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) displacement imaging technology to simulate the oilfield development process considering the economic benefits. The displacement stage with the best oil displacement effect in the process of waterflooding, chemical flooding and then waterflooding was defined, and the control effect of permeability and heterogeneity on the improvement of oil displacement efficiency by polymer-surfactant binary flooding was discussed. The distribution position of remaining oil in different displacement stages was quantitatively and visually displayed, and its control factors were revealed. The research shows that during the simulation process of first waterflooding followed by chemical flooding and then waterflooding in the oilfield, the T(2) spectrum signal amplitude increases the most in the two stages, one is from saturated oil flooding to 50% water cut and the other one is from 95% water cut to the end of 1 PV polymer flooding. The oil displacement efficiency increases the most, and the oil is primarily discharged from pore throats larger than 90 ms (or with pore throat radius of 8.37 μm). Compared with heterogeneity, permeability plays a more obvious controlling role in improving the oil displacement efficiency of polymer-surfactant binary flooding. The influence of fingering phenomenon on the distribution of remaining oil is most obvious in the second waterflooding, and the distribution of remaining oil with polymer slug is more obviously affected by the fingering phenomenon than that with polymer-surfactant slug. The study results provide theoretical guidance for tapping the remaining oil potential of old oilfields with high to ultrahigh permeabilities.