👆SURFACTANT FLOODING:
Among chemical flooding methods, surfactant flooding processes are particularly effective for recovering a large fraction of conventional oil (25° API or higher) left in the reservoir after waterflood – which could be as much as 60% of the original oil in place. The basic principle behind the use of surfactant flooding is to recover the capillary-trapped residual oil remaining after waterflooding by injecting surfactant solution; the residual oil can be mobilized through a strong reduction in the interfacial tension (IFT) between oil and water. If the interfacial tension can be reduced between the oil and water, the resistance to flow is definitely reduced. If surfactants are properly selected, a reduction in interfacial tension could be as much as 10-3 dynes/cm, a recovery of 10-20% of the original oil in place, when not producible by other technologies, is technically and economically feasible by surfactant feasible by surfactant flooding.
Among chemical flooding methods, surfactant flooding processes are particularly effective for recovering a large fraction of conventional oil (25° API or higher) left in the reservoir after waterflood – which could be as much as 60% of the original oil in place. The basic principle behind the use of surfactant flooding is to recover the capillary-trapped residual oil remaining after waterflooding by injecting surfactant solution; the residual oil can be mobilized through a strong reduction in the interfacial tension (IFT) between oil and water. If the interfacial tension can be reduced between the oil and water, the resistance to flow is definitely reduced. If surfactants are properly selected, a reduction in interfacial tension could be as much as 10-3 dynes/cm, a recovery of 10-20% of the original oil in place, when not producible by other technologies, is technically and economically feasible by surfactant feasible by surfactant flooding.