Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 37 (2003) 25 – 37

www.elsevier.com/locate/jpetscieng

Evaluation of EOR methods for heavy-oil recovery in

naturally fractured reservoirs
Tayfun Babadagli *
Department of Petroleum and Mining Resources Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, PO Box 33, Al-Khod, Muscat 123, Oman

Accepted 7 June 2002

Abstract

When unfavorable conditions such as heavy-oil, large matrix size, high IFT, low matrix permeability, oil-wet matrix and
poorly connected fracture network exist in an oil reservoir, additional support to enhance the matrix oil recovery is inevitable.
Water and gas can be injected in order for the matrix oil to be recovered by capillary and gravity forces, respectively. These
processes may not yield significant recovery increase as matrix oil becomes heavier and less water wet. In this case, thermal,
chemical and miscible gas injection can be thought to overcome the limitations. Recent studies and limited number of field
applications have shown that those methods might result in substantial amount of additional oil recovery. On the other hand,
there exist certain conditions where the methods may not be technically and economically feasible. This paper reviews different
EOR methods and the parameters affecting the performance of heavy-oil recovery based on experimental observations. The
application conditions from technical and economical points of view are also discussed.
D 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Keywords: EOR methods; Heavy-oil recovery; Reservoirs

1. Introduction rally fractured reservoirs. Depending on matrix size,

Matrix recovery in naturally fractured reservoir
(NFR) is achieved by an interaction between fluid in
fracture and matrix oil. Fracture fluid acts as a ‘‘force’’
displacing the matrix oil out of matrix by viscous
displacement, mass transfer or capillary displacement
(Reiss, 1980; Van Golf-Racht, 1982). The type of
displacement is determined by the properties of rock
matrix and fluids. If matrix is water wet and enough
amount of water is supplied in fracture network,
capillary imbibition governs the recovery from natu-
wettability and fracture orientation, which determine
the amount of threshold pressure to be exceeded for an
interaction, gravity drainage may become the domi-
nating recovery mechanism. Mass transfer between
fracture fluid and matrix oil can take place if the
miscibility conditions are achieved.
If the capillarity dictates the interaction, the follow-
ing dimensionless time, introduced by Mattax and
Kyte (1962), describes the process:
sffiffiffiffi
r k :
td ¼ t ð1Þ
lw L2 /

* Tel.: +968-515-320; fax: +968-513-416. Later, Zhang et al. (1996) replaced water viscosity
E-mail address: tayfun@squ.edu.om (T. Babadagli). term by geometric mean of oil and water viscosities.

0920-4105/02/$ - see front matter D 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

PII: S 0 9 2 0 - 4 1 0 5 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 3 0 9 - 1
26 T. Babadagli / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 37 (2003) 25–37

Ma et al. (1997) defined a characteristic length (Lc) to Babadagli (2000a) studied the effect of matrix boun-
replace L. Babadagli (1996a, 1997a) represented wett- dary condition on surfactant and polymer imbibition
ability using a wettability indicator, f(h). With these and clarified the conditions where Eq. (3) dominates
modifications, Eq. (1) can be written as below: over Eq. (2). It is also known that the reduction in oil
sffiffiffiffi viscosity due to high temperature fluid injection accel-
rf ðhÞ k : erates the imbibition recovery rate (Briggs et al., 1988;
td ¼ t pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 2 ð2Þ Briggs et al., 1992; Reis, 1992; Babadagli, 1996a,b) in
lo lw Lc /
accordance with Eq. (2). Later, Babadagli (2001)
examined the effect of matrix boundary condition
The effects of some of these parameters on the
and transfer type (co or counter-current) on the per-
capillary imbibition transfer have been investigated in
formance of high temperature imbibition.
the past. These parameters related to the rock proper-
This study investigates the effect of different injec-
ties include matrix permeability (Mattax and Kyte,
tants, namely cold and hot water, and chemicals
1962; Torsaeter, 1984; Cuiec et al., 1994; Babadagli
(polymer and surfactant), on the improvement of the
and Ershaghi, 1992), matrix size and shape (Mattax
heavy-oil recovery from matrix. The analysis is based
and Kyte, 1962; Cuiec et al., 1994; Zhang et al., 1996;
on the experimental observations for different rock
Ma et al., 1997; Torsaeter and Silseth, 1985), wett-
types, wettabilities, and interaction type, i.e. co-cur-
ability (Parsons and Chaney, 1966; Zhou et al., 1993;
rent or counter-current flow. A discussion on the
Ma et al., 1994; Babadagli, 1996a, 1997a), heteroge-
efficiency of the processes is also provided. Although
neity (Parsons and Chaney, 1966; Torsaeter, 1984;
no experimental data are presented, the recovery of
Hamon and Vidal, 1986), and matrix boundary con-
heavy oil by gas injection is addressed.
ditions (Cuiec et al., 1994; Zhang et al., 1996; Ma et
al., 1997; Torsaeter and Silseth, 1985; Hamon and
Vidal, 1986; Bourbiaux and Kalaydjian, 1988). The
2. Evaluation of EOR methods
parameters studied related to the fluid properties are
the chemistry of water (Iffly et al., 1972), viscosities of
The evaluation of the EOR methods will be done in
the phases (Blair, 1964; Ghedan and Poetmann, 1990;
terms of oil viscosity, rock type, matrix wettability
Ma et al., 1994; Cuiec et al., 1994; Zhang et al., 1996;
and matrix boundary condition for different injection
Babadagli, 1996a,b, 1997a, 2001), and interfacial
fluids.
tension (IFT) (Keijzer and de Vries, 1990; Cuiec et
al., 1994; Babadagli et al., 1999; Schechter et al.,
1994; Al-Lawati and Saleh, 1996). These properties
3. Waterflooding
determine the recovery rate and the ultimate recovery
due to capillary imbibition.
When water is injected into an NFR, it interacts
If the gravity dominates the matrix – fracture inter-
with matrix oil while flowing in the fracture network.
action due to greater matrix size, less water wettabil-
This interaction can be in different ways depending on
ity, or lower IFT, then the following relationship
the matrix properties. It matrix is water wet, water
describes the rate of the process:
imbibes into matrix by capillary imbibition expelling
kDq : oil out of the matrix. If the matrix is oil wet, oil is
td ¼ t ð3Þ expelled out provided that the threshold pressure is
L/lw
exceeded. This is controlled by the height of the matrix
If methods such as surfactant and heat injection are block (Van Golf-Racht, 1982). Laboratory and field
applied, IFT is reduced. This is expected to reduce the experience on the recovery by capillary imbibition
capillary imbibition rate according to Eq. (2). Then, date back to early 1950s. Brownscombe and Dyes
gravity dominates the matrix – fracture interaction (1952) investigated the possibility of water imbibition
(Keijzer and de Vries, 1990; Cuiec et al., 1994; for Spraberry field. Capillary imbibition recovery
Schechter et al., 1994; Al-Lawati and Saleh, 1996; performances of some other US fields was studied
Babadagli, 1996b; Babadagli et al., 1999). Recently, more recently at laboratory scale experimentation
 T. Babadagli / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 37 (2003) 25–37 27

Fig. 1. Comparison of imbibition recovery for different oil and rock types. Matrix configuration: cylindrical, all sides open to flow.

(Guo et al., 1998; Putra and Schechter, 1999; Putra et
al., 1999; Akin et al., 2000). North Sea chalk has also
been a good candidate for waterflooding to recover oil
by capillary imbibition. Although the reservoir rock is
carbonaceous origin, notable recovery was observed in
these applications (Oen et al., 1986; Thomas et al.,
1987; Hallenbeck et al., 1991; Sylte et al., 1993).
One of the important limitations of matrix recovery
during water injection is the viscosity of oil. Higher
viscosity of oil reduces the imbibition recovery rate. A
group of experiments was conducted on different rock
samples using heavy (crude) oil in this study. For
comparison, the same experiments were also carried
out using light (crude) oil. Experimental details can be
found in Appendix A. Fig. 1 compares the recovery of
heavy and light oil from sandstone (water-wet Berea
sandstone) and limestone (oil-wet Indiana limestone)
samples. As expected, oil-wet sample yielded slower
production of oil and lower ultimate recovery than
water-wet sample. When the light and heavy-oil cases

Fig. 2. Comparison of imbibition recovery for different oil types. Matrix configuration: semi-cylindrical, one side open to flow (counter current
flow).
28 T. Babadagli / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 37 (2003) 25–37

were compared for each rock type, the lower ultimate
recovery with heavy oil can be attributed to higher IFT
with heavy-oil and less water wettability of the sample
for heavy-oil brine pair (Babadagli, 1996a,b). How-
ever, the recovery rate is mainly governed by the
viscosity of oil. Thus, the first challenge is to fasten
the process and the second one is to increase the
ultimate recovery.
Another case demonstrating the effect of the inter-
action type was presented in Fig. 2. In this case, the
aqueous phase interacts with matrix from one side of a
semi-cylindrical sample so that imbibition takes place
only counter-currently. As can be seen, this limits not
only the recovery rate but also the ultimate recovery of
heavy oil. When the cases shown in Figs. 1 and 2 are
compared, it can be observed that both the recovery

Fig. 3. (a) Comparison of imbibition recovery for different oil types and aqueous phases. Matrix configuration: cylindrical Berea sandstone, all
sides open to flow. (b) Comparison of imbibition recovery for different oil types and aqueous phases. Matrix configuration: cylindrical Indiana
limestone, all sides open to flow.
 T. Babadagli / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 37 (2003) 25–37
rate and the ultimate recovery were not affected sig-
nificantly by the interaction type for light oil.
Improving the performances presented in Figs. 1
and 2 for heavy oil is a critical task. In the following
section, the EOR methods are evaluated for different
rock types. As a comparison, the response of light oil is
also presented.
4. Chemicals as EOR agent
4.1. Surfactant
The idea of injecting surfactant solution to improve
imbibition recovery was proposed for fractured North
Sea chalk (Michels et al., 1996; Milter and Austad,
1996; Austad and Milter, 1997; Austad et al., 1998)
and carbonaceous oil fields in the United States (Flu-
merfelt et al., 1993; Spinler et al., 2000; Chen et al.,
2000). These studies were all limited with laboratory
scale experimentation and no field application of
surfactant supported water injection has been reported
yet. Other studies as to the effect of surfactant on the
capillary imbibition recovery performance basically
aimed at identification of the mechanisms involved
without considering any particular field (Keijzer and
de Vries, 1990; Schechter et al., 1994; Cuiec et al.,
1994; Babadagli, 1996a,b, 2001; Babadagli et al.,
1999). In general, the positive effect of lowered IFT
on the ultimate recovery due to surfactant addition was
observed in these studies. A negative effect of lowered
IFT (surfactant solution) on the recovery rate, in
accordance with Eq. (2), was reported as well.
In the present study, heavier oil sample than the
ones used in the above listed studies was used for both
oil-wet and water-wet samples. The results for Berea
sandstone are given in Fig. 3a. For light-oil case,
surfactant solution yielded a similar performance as
brine solution in terms of the ultimate recovery and
recovery rate. In case of heavy oil, however, a remark-
able increase in ultimate recovery was obtained with
the addition of surfactant. This is expected because of
the reduction in IFT with the addition of surfactant into
brine (Table 1). More importantly, the recovery rate is
much faster when surfactant was used disagreeing with
Eq. (2). (according to Eq. (2), increasing IFT causes
slower capillary imbibition). For light-oil cases, the
effect of IFT on the capillary imbibition rate, as given
29
Table 1
Properties of oleic and aqueous phases used in the experiments
Fluids Density Viscosity IFT with IFT with
(g/cm3) (cP) light crude heavy crude
oil (mN/m) oil (mN/m)
Brine 1 1 25 41
Surfactant 1 1 11 31
Polymer 1 20 17 30
Light oil 0.81 5.5
Heavy oil 0.94 2215
in Eq. (2), was validated experimentally by Schechter
et al. (1994), Cuiec et al. (1994), and Babadagli
(1996a). In the present case, one should question the
validity of this equation for heavy-oil imbibition and
possible reasons for this. For example, wettability for
surfactant-oil pair is expected to be different from the
wettability for brine-oil pair (Alveskog et al., 1998).
The above-reported experiments were conducted on
the samples having contact with aqueous phase from all
directions. Partial contact would influence the recovery
rate and ultimate recovery as well. Recently, Babadagli
(2001) reported that for light-oil cases, as the contact
area of matrix with aqueous phase decreases, the
negative effect of low IFT on the recovery rate begins
to be more severe. He observed that, although no
significant change on the ultimate recovery was
observed, the recovery rate was significantly reduced
with the addition of surfactant. Therefore, he did not
suggest low IFT for any matrix boundary condition and
stated that a slight increase in the ultimate recovery
would not support the idea of injecting expensive
chemicals continuously for light-oil recovery as long
as it yields slower recovery than brine. For heavy-oil
case, he observed that surfactant addition yielded a
significant increase in the recovery rate and ultimate
recovery for unfavorable boundary condition, i.e. less
contact area for aqueous phase with matrix.
The effect of surfactant addition on the capillary
imbibition for limestone sample (oil wet) was searched
and the results are given in Fig. 3b. For light oil,
notable increase in ultimate recovery was obtained
with surfactant addition. Also, much faster recovery
rate was observed for low IFT case. For heavy oil, the
response is quite dramatic. Due to unfavorable wett-
ability of the sample, recovery with brine was less than
2%. Surfactant addition yielded a slight increase in the
recovery rate and ultimate recovery, but apparently,
30 T. Babadagli / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 37 (2003) 25–37

this recovery performance would be a undesirable
application economically. Thus, surfactant injection
is recommendable for sandstones but not limestone
for heavy-oil recovery.
4.2. Polymer
Injection of polymer solution as aqueous phase for
matrix recovery was tested for different conditions
previously at laboratory scale experimentation (Ghe-
dan and Poetmann, 1990; Babadagli, 2001) for rela-
tively lighter oils. The Only field case reported is the
injection of polymer solution to maximize the recovery
in Powder River Basin in Wyoming (Hochanadel and
Townsend, 1991).
In the present study, the polymer solution (proper-
ties given in Appendix A and Table 1) was tested as
aqueous phase for both sandstone and limestone sam-
ples. The results for heavy-oil Berea sandstone is
shown in Fig. 4a. Polymer solution resulted in a sig-
nificant increase in the recovery rate. Ultimate recov-
ery, however, was not influenced by the addition of the

Fig. 4. (a) Comparison of imbibition recovery for different aqueous phases. Matrix configuration: cylindrical Berea sandstone, all sides open to
flow. (b) Comparison of imbibition recovery for different oil types and aqueous phases. Matrix configuration: cylindrical Indiana limestone, all
sides open to flow.
 T. Babadagli / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 37 (2003) 25–37
polymer. This can be attributed to the stronger capillary
imbibition drive by increasing aqueous phase viscosity.
Note that a reduction in IFT due to polymer addition
was also obtained (Table 1). This is expected to con-
tribute to the recovery rate as in the surfactant case (Fig.
3a). When the surfactant and polymer solution per-
formances are compared for heavy-oil cases (Figs. 3a
and 4a), one can conclude that the surfactant is more
favorable from the technical point of view as it yields
faster and higher recovery than polymer solution. The
economical evaluation of the process requires the cost
and amount of the chemicals for comparison. This will
be discussed in the next section.
The impacts of the polymer solution on heavy-oil
recovery from limestone sample can be seen in Fig.
4b. Polymer solution exhibited a weaker performance
for even light oil. The heavy-oil response was similar
to surfactant case for limestone. No significant con-
tribution to heavy-oil recovery due to polymer addi-
tion was obtained. When the sandstone and limestone
performances for light-oil are compared, it is reason-
able to question the effect of adsorption. Adsorption
of polymers on limestones is expected to be more
severe than sandstones and that might be a reason for
slower imbibition recovery.
5. Thermal methods
Injection of high temperature fluids into fractured
reservoirs to recover matrix oil has been considered as
an effective EOR application and numerous studies
have been published providing enough evidence to
support this (Briggs et al., 1988, 1992; Reis, 1992;
Babadagli, 1996a,b, 1997a, 2001). Field scale thermal
applications were also reported (Sahuquet and Ferrier,
1982; Macaulay et al., 1995).
Understanding the matrix recovery phenomenon is
more complex for thermal injection methods than
waterflooding and chemical injection. The reason is
that the recovery could be due to several mechanisms
and the contribution of each mechanism to total
recovery is dependent on the rock type, temperature,
and continuously changing conditions in the reservoir
under heating. The major recovery mechanisms
include capillary imbibition, thermal expansion, gas
generation, gravity drainage, in situ steam generation,
distillation, solution gas drive, and pressure depletion.
31
Reis (1992), Briggs et al. (1992), and Babadagli
(1996a) identified the contribution of each mechanism
to total recovery for different conditions. Capillary
imbibition can be enhanced by decreasing oil viscos-
ity (Reis, 1992; Briggs et al., 1992; Babadagli,
1996a), reduction in IFT (Babadagli, 1996a), and
possibly change due to wettability alteration (Rao,
1999; Al-Hadhrami and Blunt, 2000). These are
particularly of importance for carbonate rocks as they
are not expected to yield a strong capillary imbibition
recovery and a change of wettability from oil wet to
water wet is expected for carbonates with increasing
temperature.
In this paper, the effect of hot water on heavy-oil
recovery from sandstone matrix was investigated. The
results are shown in Fig. 5a. Both ultimate recovery
and the recovery rate significantly enhanced by hot
water injection. It is expected that the capillary imbi-
bition was improved by reduced oil viscosity and IFT
as the total increase in the ultimate recovery (nearly
30%) is much more than the expected contribution of
thermal expansion (expected to be between 8% and
10% for this temperature range, Babadagli, 1996a).
Compared to surfactant and polymer cases, hot water
yielded higher ultimate recovery and faster recovery
for sandstone.
For limestone sample, however, water accelerated
the recovery rate but no remarkable effect on the
ultimate recovery was observed (Fig. 5b). Heavy-oil
sample did not reflect any significant recovery with
brine (around 2% only) and the contribution of hot
water is apparently limited with the thermal expansion
since the ultimate recovery for heavy oil increased
only 7% when hot water was used.
Another restriction in heavy-oil recovery was the
matrix boundary condition limiting the contact area and
consequently the recovery rate and amount as shown in
Fig. 2. To clarify the effect of hot water on the matrix
recovery when the matrix contacts with the aqueous
phase from only one side (counter-current flow), brine
and hot water experiments for counter-current flow are
compared in Fig. 5c. The type of interaction signifi-
cantly restricts the recovery rate and ultimate recovery
(compare the cases for brine in Fig. 5a and c). However,
the effect of hot water on the ultimate recovery is
remarkable for counter-current interaction. The ulti-
mate recovery increased more than fivefold as seen in
Fig. 5c. The process was also accelerated notably as in
32 T. Babadagli / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 37 (2003) 25–37
 T. Babadagli / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 37 (2003) 25–37
the fully open matrix boundary (Fig. 5a) when hot
water was used as aqueous phase.
Another practical application is to inject water first,
especially in water-wet rocks, and deplete the matrix,
then continue with hot water or steam. This might result
in more economic process due to lower cost of water
injection if a satisfactory recovery rate with brine is
obtained. Sahuquet and Ferrier (1982) and Babadagli
(2001) tested steam and hot water injection, respec-
tively, succeeding water injection. They observed an
increase in the ultimate recovery and great amount of
this additional recovery was due to thermal expansion
in both cases. In the cases given in Fig. 5a, b and c, this
sequence (water injection followed by hot water)
would not likely yield an optimum process as the
recovery rate with brine is significantly slower than
hot water case.
For oil-wet carbonate matrix, the improvement of
capillary imbibition is more crucial issue. Hot water
injection yielded a doubled recovery in limestone (Fig.
5b) and this can be considered as an achievement for a
challenging naturally fractured carbonate reservoir. In
heavy-oil recovery, especially for oil-wet systems, the
major concern, from the long-term reservoir manage-
ment point of view, is expected to increase the produc-
tion rate rather than targeting the improvement of
ultimate recovery. Therefore, hot water is more advis-
able if it reflects an economic application for long-term
plans. In short, the selection of proper method depends
on the cost of the project as well as the managerial
concerns.
6. Gas injection
Gas can also be injected in order for it to penetrate
into matrix and expel the oil out. As gaseous phase is
normally the nonwetting phase, the oil is recovered by
the process called gas oil gravity drainage (GOGD),
which occurs due to gravity difference between the
fluid in fracture and matrix (Festoey and van Golf-
Racht, 1987). This process yields slower recovery rate
than other possible mechanisms, especially for heavy
Fig. 5. (a) Comparison of imbibition recovery for different oil types and temperatures. Matrix configuration: cylindrical Berea sandstone, all
sides open to flow. (b) Comparison of imbibition recovery for different oil types and temperatures. Matrix configuration: cylindrical Indiana
limestone, all sides open to flow. (c) Comparison of imbibition recovery for different water temperatures. Matrix configuration: semi-cylindrical
Berea sandstone, one side open to flow (counter current flow).
33
oil, and can be enhanced by thermal (Macaulay et al.,
1995; Al-Shizawi et al., 1997) or miscible gas injec-
tion. Great deal of study has been performed on the
recovery of matrix oil by miscible displacement. Nitro-
gen is a commonly injected gas into naturally fractured
reservoirs for pressure maintenance (Thomas et al.,
1991; Mungan, 2000) due to availability and lower
cost. If the miscibility conditions are achieved, the
matrix oil can be produced by diffusion mechanism.
Another common gas injected for the same purpose is
methane (Morel et al., 1990; Le Romancer et al.,
1994). Morel et al. (1990) observed that oil (pentane)
recovery is twice as fast with methane as with nitrogen.
Heavier carbon fractions than methane were also tested
as injectants (Firoozabadi and Markeset, 1994; Le
Gallo et al., 1997). More recently, Lenormand et al.
(1998) defined a transfer function for the diffusion
between matrix and fracture and Stubos and Poulou
(1999) proposed a scaling equation for the same
phenomenon. Both approached might lead to field
scale performance estimations.
In above studies, light-oil samples were used as
matrix oil. It is worthwhile investigating the miscibil-
ity conditions for heavy oil with different types of
solvents flowing in fractures. In the present study, no
experimentation on matrix recovery by miscible dis-
placement was reported. This is on-going part of the
current research work. It should be emphasized that the
gases such as nitrogen and methane are difficult to
achieve miscibility with heavy oil. Other solvents can
be tested but this might be uneconomical process even
it is technically a successful application. The solvent
injection (or miscible gas) can be the only alternative
to thermal methods in carbonates (unfavorable wett-
ability and low permeability matrix) containing heavy
oil as the chemical injection was not observed as a
promising method for this type of reservoirs.
7. Efficiency of the EOR processes
The EOR methods were evaluated above from a
technical point of view. For an effective field manage-
34 T. Babadagli / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 37 (2003) 25–37
ment, these observations can be helpful for decision
making. If the purpose is to deplete the matrix oil
effectively (or thoroughly), the target should be the
ultimate recovery. If, on the other hand, the purpose is
to increase the production rate, one should focus on the
increase in recovery rate instead of ultimate recovery.
Fields with low recovery factor (heavy oil, carbonates)
are good candidates for this type of strategy. These
managerial concerns will determine the proper EOR
method(s) for heavy-oil recovery.
Recovery rate and ultimate recovery were used as
the indicators of the recovery performance in this
paper. This basically defines the effectiveness of the
process. When the efficiency of the process is con-
cerned, i.e. the amount of oil recovered per unit cost,
the above analysis should be carried out considering
the cost of the process. The experimentation method-
ology (static capillary imbibition) followed is not
suitable for a cost analysis as the total amount of
chemical or heat injected cannot be known. This is
because of the static nature of the process but, in
reality, there exists a continuous injection of the
aqueous phase. Having known the injection rate
and concentrations, one might be able to calculate
the cost of the process as this would tell how much
chemical needs to be injected to reach the ultimate
recovery.
The dynamic laboratory scale experimentation is
necessary to estimate the amount of injected fluid
needed to reach ultimate recovery. This defines the
efficiency of the process and consequently leads to
find out the project cost. Baviere et al. (1994) con-
ducted a detailed efficiency analysis for the chemical
injection into homogeneous samples (nonfractured)
incorporating the cost. They carried out displacement
experiments considering the effects of adsorption and
salinity of water and analyzed the different chemical
injection scenarios to select the most cost-efficient one.
A similar approach would be useful for fractured
systems but no study has been reported, to date, for
chemical injection into fractured systems.
Experimental (Graham and Richardson, 1959;
Mannon and Chilingarian, 1973; Kleppe and Morse,
1974; Kazemi and Merrill, 1979; Babadagli, 1994,
2000b) and numerical (Kleppe and Morse, 1974;
Kazemi and Merrill, 1979; Babadagli, 1994, 2000b)
studies were performed under dynamic (fluid flow in
fracture) conditions for waterflooding. The perform-
ance estimations obtained from dynamic tests can be
extended to the estimation of the cost-efficiency of
the processes. Putra and Schechter (1999) and Putra
et al. (1999) successfully applied the efficiency anal-
ysis using the definition of the critical water injection
rate proposed by Babadagli (1994) to field scale
(Spraberry field) without cost analysis. For water
injection, cost analysis may not be a critical issue
due to relatively lower cost of injectant. However, for
other EOR methods, the cost analysis, and therefore,
injection rate are vital. Babadagli (1997b, 2000c)
carried out numerical simulation studies to define
the optimum steam injection rates for different matrix
and fracture properties taking into account the cost of
the injected steam. Both studies suggested that the
injection rate must be adjusted according to matrix
permeability and heating capacity. No such approach
has been attempted for chemical and miscible gas
injection in laboratory or field scale yet. In this type
of study, the adsorption of the chemical (especially
for carbonate rocks), the critical concentration (for
chemicals or gas injection) or temperature (for hot
water) should be taken into account to optimize the
process.
8. Conclusions and remarks
This paper evaluated the EOR methods to recover
heavy oil from matrix in fractured reservoirs. Analysis
and comparison of capillary imbibition recovery per-
formances with brine, surfactant and polymer solu-
tions, and hot water were provided for different rock
samples and matrix boundary conditions. It was
observed that increase in heavy-oil recovery using
EOR techniques is more pronounced than that in light
oil.
More oil (light) can be recovered even from strong-
ly water-wet sandstone (Berea sandstone) with the help
of chemical and thermal techniques. Hot water yields
faster recovery and higher ultimate recovery than the
chemical solutions. For heavy-oil imbibition recovery
from sandstones, however, hot water yielded faster and
higher recovery than the imbibition of surfactant
solution. Polymer also caused a faster recovery but
the same ultimate recovery as brine. For oil-wet
carbonate (Indiana limestone), hot water yielded the
fastest heavy-oil recovery mainly due to thermal
 T. Babadagli / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 37 (2003) 25–37
expansion. Contribution to recovery due to the addi-
tion of surfactant and polymer was trivial. Therefore,
injection of miscible gas (solvent) to recovery heavy
matrix oil can be thought as an alternative to steam (or
hot water) injection and the efficiency analysis of this
method needs to be investigated.
The efficiency of the process and cost analysis
require dynamic experimentations as it will provide
the total amount of EOR fluid injected to reach the
ultimate recovery. Also required for the efficiency
analysis is to obtain concentrations (for chemicals)
and temperature of hot water that optimize the process
both technically and economically.
Nomenclature
f(h) Wettability index
k Matrix permeability
L Matrix size
Lc Characteristic matrix size
t Time
td Dimensionless time
/ Porosity
lo Oil viscosity
lw Water viscosity
q Density
r Interfacial tension
Appendix A . Rock and fluid properties and
experimental procedure
Berea sandstone and Indiana limestone samples
were used as rock samples. They were cut 2.5 cm in
diameter and 7.5 cm in length from the same block.
The average values of the porosity and permeability of
the Berea sandstone samples are 20% and 500 mD,
respectively. The porosity and permeability of the
Indiana limestone samples are 17% and 8.5 mD,
respectively. Each sample was used only once to
avoid any possible alteration in the wettability of rock
due to cleaning procedure and chemicals.
Two types of oil were used: light and heavy crude
oil. The properties of the fluids are given in Table 1.
Surfactant solution was prepared by mixing a non-
ionic surfactant (t-octylphenoxypoly-ethoxyethanol)
1% in volume with 3% NaCl brine. Polymer solution
was prepared by adding 0.1 wt.% polyacrylamide to
3% NaCl brine.
35
Experiments were conducted under static condi-
tions by immersing the 100% oil saturated samples
into an imbibition cell. Hot water experiments were
conducted by immersing the samples into the cell
filled with preheated brine (constant temperature of 80
jC). The recovery was monitored against time until
no more oil is recovered from the sample.
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