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 ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY
Definition
Hydrocarbons can be produced by either primary, secondary or tertiary recovery methods. Primary
and secondary methods are referred to as conventional methods, unlike tertiary methods that are
referred to as unconventional methods.
Hydrocarbon recovery by utilizing the natural reservoir pressure is called pressure depletion,
which is primary recovery. Secondary recovery involves injecting water and gas for pressure
support, as well as displacing oil.
Tertiary recovery involves injection of materials that are not normally present in the reservoir, and
is known as enhanced oil recovery.
Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) refers to all processes (other than water flooding) in which energy
and chemicals are supplied to the reservoir to establish pressure gradients, modify interfacial
tensions and wettability, adjust the mobility of the driving fluid, alter the permeability of selected
zones and change fluid properties in such a way that oil flows towards the producing well in a
controlled manner.

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 Efficient Microscopic and Macroscopic Displacement

Recovery Factor and Displacement Efficiencies

The recovery factor of a hydrocarbon reservoir determines the amount of hydrocarbons that can be
produced and whether field development will be profitable or not, and is defined as:
𝑁𝑃
𝐸𝑅 =
𝑁
where: NP = Oil Produced, and N= Oil Originally In Place (OOIP)
The recovery factor is dependent on different factors, and can also be written as:
Vod Voc
ER = ED × Evol = ×
Voc Voip
where:
ED= microscopic displacement efficiency, Evol =volumetric displacement efficiency,
Vod = Volume of oil displaced, Voc = Volume of oil contacted, and
Voip = Volume of oil in place.

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Microscopic displacement relates to the displacement or mobilization of oil at the pore scale.
That is, ED is a measure of the effectiveness of the displacing fluid in moving (mobilizing) the oil
at those places in the rock where the displacing fluid contacts the oil.
ED is reflected in the magnitude of the residual oil saturation, Sor , in the regions contacted by the
displacing fluid.
Soi − Sor
ED =
Soi
Volumetric displacement efficiency Evol can further be divided into:
Acw Acscw
Evol = EA × EV = ×
AT ATcs
where:
EA = Areal sweep efficiency, EV = Vertical sweep efficiency,
Aacw = Area contacted by water, AT = Total area,
Acscw = Cross-section area contacted by water, and ATcs = Total Cross-section area.

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Example: determine the recovery factor ,ER , in which initial oil saturation, Soi , is 0.60 and Sor in
the swept region is 0.30, and a typical water flood volumetric sweep efficiency,Evol , at the
economic limit is 0.70
Solution:
Microscopic displacement efficiency, ED , can be calculated as follows:
Soi − Sor 0.60 − 0.30
ED = = = 0.50
Soi 0.60
Volumetric displacement efficiency Evol was done as below:
Evol = 0.70
The recovery factor ,ER for a typical water flooding is found as:
ER = ED × Evol = 0.50 × 0.70 = 0.35
______________________________
The main purpose of EOR is to increase the recovery factor by increasing the microscopic and volumetric displacement
efficiencies. By adding surfactants to injection water, capillary trapped oil can be mobilized by reducing the interfacial
tension between oil and water. This results in a larger recovery of the contacted oil and an enhanced microscopic
displacement efficiency. Enhancing the volumetric displacement efficiency can be achieved by adding polymers to injection
water, causing a more favorable mobility ratio by increasing the viscosity of the aqueous solution. This allows the injected
solution to sweep a larger part of the reservoir, and more oil is contacted.
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 Basic Mechanisms of Enhanced Oil Recovery

For an EOR to be effective, the two important parameters that must be taken into consideration are
the mobility ratio and the capillary number.
(1) Improving The Mobility Ratio
Mobility of a fluid is defined as the ratio of the effective permeability to the viscosity of the fluid
𝒌𝒊
𝝀=
𝝁𝒊
where:
λ = Mobility, k= Effective Permeability , μ = Fluid Viscosity , and i = oil, water or gas
While mobility ratio, M, is defined as the mobility of the displacing fluid divided by the mobility
of the displaced fluid.
𝒌
( 𝒓𝒘 )
𝝁𝒘
𝑴=
𝒌
( 𝒓𝒐 )
𝝁𝒐
 For maximum displacement efficiency, 𝑴 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 ≤ 𝟏 for favorable mobility ratio.

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 If 𝑴 > 1 then it means that the displacing fluid, for example, water in a waterflood moves more easily than the
displaced oil.
This is unfavorable because the displacing fluid will flow past the displaced oil given rise to a phenomenon
called ‘viscous fingering’ where most of the oil is by-passed (see Fig. below).
 If 𝑴 > 1 and there is no viscous fingering, it means that more fluid will be injected to attain a given residual oil
saturation in the pores. Thus, for effective displacement of fluid, the mobility ratio is very important.

In case of enhanced oil recovery, mobility ratio can be made smaller, in order words, ‘improved’ by one of the
following ways;
 Lowering the viscosity of the displaced fluid, for example, oil
 Increasing the viscosity of displaced fluid
 Increasing the effective permeability to oil
 Decreasing the effective permeability to the displacing fluid.
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(2) Increasing the Capillary Number
Capillary number is defined as the dimensionless ratio between the viscous and the capillary
forces given by
μv k∆P
Nc = or Nc =
σ σL
where:
Nc= Capillary Number, μ= Displaced fluid viscosity , 𝑣 = Pore velocity,
𝜎 = Interfacial tension between the displaced and displacing fluids,
𝛥𝑃/𝐿 = Pressure gradient across a distance L, 𝑘 = Effective Permeability to the displaced fluid

When the capillary number is increased, the residual oil saturation is decreased by either a
reduction in oil viscosity or an increase in pressure gradient but of more importance is a decrease
in the interfacial tension (IFT).
However, for a meaningful residual oil to be produced, the critical value of 𝚫𝐏/𝐋𝛔 has to be
exceeded by an increase in water flooding rate.

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 Classification of Enhanced Oil Recovery Methods
There are various classifications of enhanced oil recovery and the method used depends on

reservoir geology and fluid properties.

Miscible displacement is the dominant recovery method in Canada; with steam injection growing

fast as heavier oil/bitumen resources are exploited.

In United States of America, steam injection is the principal recovery method with miscible

carbon dioxide flooding coming next.

A broad classification is basically thermal and non-thermal (see Fig. below) where:

 thermal methods are applied to heavy oil reservoirs; and

 non-thermal applied to light oils.

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 Classification of EOR Methods
NON-THERMAL METHODS
(1) CHEMICAL FLOODING
 Polymer Flooding
 Surfactant Flooding
 Alkaline Flooding
 Emulsion Flooding
 Micellar Flooding
 Combination Flooding
(2) MISCIBLE DISPLACEMENT
 Miscible Slug Process
 Enriched Gas Drive
 Vaporizing Gas Drive
 Alcohol Flooding
 Carbon Dioxide Flooding
 Nitrogen and Flue-Gas Flooding
(3) GAS DRIVES
 Inert Gas
 Flue Gas
 Immiscible CO2
THERMAL METHODS
(1) HOT WATER FLOODING
(2) STEAM INJECTION
 Cyclic Steam Stimulation
 Steam Flooding
 Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage
 Fracture/Conduction Heating
 Combination with Chemicals and Solvents
(VAPEX)
(3) IN SITU COMBUSTION
 Forward Combustion [Dry/Wet (Oxygen
Enriched , Other Additives to Air)]
 Reverse Combustion
 In Situ Retorting (Oil Shale)
(4) ELECTRICAL HEATING
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Non-Thermal Methods

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