Novel Self-Thickening Chemicals for Improved Conformance Control

Tapping into additional oil supplies within the nation's oil wells for smaller producers in mature production can be an important contributor to U.S. energy security. Excess water production which, when accompanied by low oil production, results in wells becoming unprofitable to operate and leads to early well abandonment and a large percent of the original oil in place never being produced. . This project will develop a new chemical technology to increase the rate of oil production and recovery from such mature oil fields in the U.S. This technology is based on unique single-component chemical products that when added to brines will self-thicken over time inside the reservoir. Such low-cost chemical solution treatments will block selectively flow in already watered-out channels in the oil reservoir. The normal injection water that follows such a treatment will be diverted into oil-rich areas of the reservoir previously not swept by this water and thus recover additional oil. This same concept may be applied in production wells to reduce water production. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: This new technology is targeted to be a low-cost treatment that is highly efficient in increasing oil recovery and so as have a favorable economic payout for the incremental oil recovered. An additional benefit of this process is that the volume of salt water lifted with the oil is reduced significantly, thereby reducing environmental impact and fluid handling costs