Linearly descending viscosity for alkaline–surfactant–polymer flooding mobility modification in multilayer heterogeneous reservoirs

Alkaline–surfactant–polymer (ASP) flooding is considered to be one of the most promising tertiary oil recovery techniques. Nevertheless, its low sweep efficiency in a multilayer heterogeneous reservoir limits field applications. In this work, linearly descending viscosity, a novel injection pattern of ASP flooding, was used for mobility control. Three-dimensional multilayer heterogeneous core models were designed and fabricated. ASP flooding experiments were conducted in the laboratory, and the remaining oil distribution was measured during flooding. Fluid samples obtained from production wells were used for the viscosity measurement. Contrast experiments were made using another two injection patterns including constant viscosity fluid injection and linearly ascending viscosity fluid injection. The results indicated that ASP flooding with linearly descending viscosity improved oil recovery by over 25%, which was a better performance than that obtained using the other two injection patterns. As the different injection patterns presented a similar recovery in the high permeability layer, the sweep efficiency of ASP fluid in the middle and low permeability layers contributed to the difference in the ultimate oil recoveries. In addition, the initial viscosity of the ASP slug had the greatest effect on the mobility modification. Linearly descending viscosity had the highest initial viscosity, leading to the highest fluid distribution rate in the middle and low permeability layers. In addition, higher effluent viscosity was obtained and an earlier viscosity peak occurred in ASP flooding with linearly descending viscosity. Therefore, the sweep efficiency in middle and low permeability layers was remarkably enlarged by using linearly descending viscosity. Thus, increasing the viscosity of the displacement agent as early as possible was found to be significantly in a multilayer heterogeneous reservoir. This study provides an insight into ASP flooding in multilayer heterogeneous reservoirs.