Experimental investigation of heavy oil recovery by hot water flooding followed by steam flooding for lower Fars reservoir, Kuwait
Abstract
In this study, hot water and steam flooding tests were conducted on eight unconsolidated sandstone core samples from Lower Fars. The hot water flooding tests were conducted at 60°C and 80°C followed by steam flooding at 153°C for the first four cores (pre-heated cores); whereas a direct steam flooding at 153°C were conducted on the last four cores. Both horizontal and vertical core flooding displacement tests were conducted.
The main objective of this work is to evaluate the efficiency of heavy oil recovery from Lower Fars reservoir using hot water flooding at various temperatures followed by steam flooding and direct steam flooding. The results of these experiments can be used to determine the optimum recovery method for Lower Fars reservoir. The average cumulative oil recovery when the cores are pre-heated for vertical setting was 77.5% compared to 74.0% for direct steam flooding. In addition, the average cumulative oil recovery when the core is pre-heated for horizontal setting was 58.4% compared to 52.0% for direct steam flooding.References
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