TECHNOLOGY UPDATE

Visualizing Low-Salinity Waterflooding

Colin Sanderson, ITF, and Mehran Sohrabi, SPE, Heriot-Watt University

Low-salinity waterflooding has recent-
ly attracted considerable interest from
governments, researchers, and oil com-
panies, who are evaluating the methods
potential to increase oil recovery. While
laboratory work and field tests have
indicated that low-salinity waterflood-
ing can have positive results, and imple-
mentation of the technology is planned,
there are still a number of challenges and
uncertainties related to the technique. It
is generally accepted that the effects of
low-salinity waterflooding are caused by
wettability alteration, but the processes
involved are still not fully understood.
Heriot-Watt University has been
conducting research to investigate the
mechanisms of interactions between
low-salinity water, crude oil, and porous
media at reservoir conditions. Indus-
try support for the work was secured
through Industry Technology Facilitator
(ITF), and professor Mehran Sohrabi,
director of the Center for Enhanced Oil
Recovery (EOR) and CO2 Solutions at the
university, is leading the project team.
Low-Salinity Water Injection
Waterflooding improves oil recovery by
displacing oil, and injection water is
usually taken from the nearest avail-
able source (which is seawater for most
offshore fields). The first effects of
low-salinity water injection were pub-
lished in the 1990s, when work at the
University of Wyoming indicated that
injecting water with a total dissolved-
solids content of less than 5,000 ppm
resulted in a higher oil recovery than
that attained by injecting high-salinity
water such as seawater. Since then, a
number of studies with varying results
have been published, and the recov-
ery benefits described are likely to be
fielddependent.

Fig. 1Heriot-Watt Universitys Center for Enhanced Oil Recovery and CO2 Solutions employs novel visualization
technologies to directly observe unseen mechanisms of interaction taking place during low-salinity water injection.
Photo courtesy of Heriot-Watt University.

32 JPT NOVEMBER 2014

 TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
Crude oil
Water/oil microdispersions
Fig. 2A highly magnified image showing an oil/water interface in which
microdispersions are clearly visible. Dispersions were formed as a result of the
contact between low-salinity water and crude oil. Image courtesy of Heriot-
Watt University.
Low-salinity waterflooding has a
number of potential benefits. It has rela-
tively low costs compared with other tech-
niques. It can be implemented in ongo-
ing and new waterflood projects onshore
and offshore and has shown potential
for sandstone and carbonate reservoirs.
In addition, it can be used alone or in
conjunction with other EOR techniques,
e.g., polymer injection, as a technology
enabler. It also can alleviate problems
associated with conventional waterflood-
ing, such as scale formation and souring.
However, the chemical mechanisms
that take place at pore scale when low-
salinity water is injected in an oil reser-
voir are not adequately understood. Thus,
reliable prediction of which reservoirs
will respond positively to low-salinity
waterflooding and the size of the recov-
ery response is very challenging.
Although several mechanisms have
been proposed based on laboratory core-
flood experiments, many conflicting
results have been reported in the tech-
nical literature. Interpretation of these
results can be difficult because of the
complex nature of rocks and the influence
of experimental artifacts, such as sample
preparation and the capillary end effects.
Research Project
The Low Salinity EOR research initiative,
a joint industry project (JIP), has been
making use of Heriot-Watt Universitys
facilities, experience, and expertise in
advanced multiphase flow visualization
34
Low-salinity brine
different characteristics will be selected
and testing to obtain direct experimental
evidence that will reveal the fundamen-
tal mechanisms involved in low-salinity
water injection.
The work program pays special
attention to investigating the role of fluid/
fluid (brine/crude oil) interactions taking
place during low-salinity water injection
and the direct visualization of microscop-
ic processes involved in the injection and
mixing of low-salinity water with crude
oil (Fig. 1). This enabled the research-
ers to directly see, for the first time, that
a physical reaction takes place in the oil
when it comes in contact with low-salinity
water. Fluid characterization tests and
measurements indicate that certain com-
pounds of crude oil that are known to be
surface-active are activated when low-
salinity water is injected (Fig. 2).
The JIP results provide a consistent
explanation for wettability alteration and
the subsequent improved oil recovery
based on fluid/fluid and rock/fluid inter-
actions taking place during low-salinity
water injection.
This finding is significant because,
in addition to providing a novel insight
into the actual mechanisms of oil recov-
ery by low-salinity water, and in particu-
lar, the poorly understood role of crude
oil/brine interactions, it may also lead to
the development of a robust and simple
method for evaluating the response of a
reservoir to low-salinity water injection.
Live crude oil samples of interest to the
project sponsors have been used in this
study, which further ensures the value of
the results.
Next Phase of JIP
Building on the success of Phase 1 of the
JIP, researchers are planning Phase 2,
which will be kicked off later this year.
State-of-the-art analytical techniques
will be used to detect minute but crucial
changes in the composition of crude oil
and brine resulting from contact with
low-salinity water.
A number of crude oil samples with
and used in the investigation to identify
samples that respond positively to low-
salinity water, as well as those that do
not. The role of the rock, including rock
type (sandstone and carbonates) and the
initial wettability of the rock, will be sys-
tematically and thoroughly investigated.
Compared with sandstone reser-
voirs, there is a significant gap in the
understanding of low-salinity water-
flooding in carbonates. As carbonate res-
ervoirs hold more than 70% of conven-
tional oil reserves, production from these
formations is critical for the petroleum
industry, and thus it is an area requiring
more research and development (R&D).
There are a number of challenges
to be tackled. For example, carbonate
formations are typically moderately to
strongly oil-wet, but waterflooding tech-
niques generally work better in water-wet
formations. In addition, the temperature
requirements of the reservoir for effective
low-salinity waterflooding are not clearly
understood in carbonatereservoirs.
ITF is planning a workshop later
this year on EOR in carbonate reser-
voirs, focusing on low-salinity water-
flooding, polymer flooding, gas flood-
ing, and other emerging technologies.
The workshop will bring together subject
matter experts from ITF member com-
panies and key industry stakeholders
to discuss the challenges in more depth
and identify areas in which collaborative
R&D could advance industry efforts to
increase recovery rates. JPT
For information on the workshop or joining
Phase 2 of the JIP, contact Colin Sanderson
(c.sanderson@itfenergy.com).
JPT NOVEMBER 2014