A study of application of in-depth gel placement for water and carbon dioxide conformance control in carbonate porous media

Application of gel treatment is an attempt to reduce or block channeling through the fractures or high permeability layers of oil reservoirs. The optimum composition of the candidate gel systems was investigated and the gelation time studies were conducted. The effect of gel placement for blocking the flow of brine and supercritical carbon dioxide in a carbonate medium was investigated by conducting flow experiments under reservoir conditions. In addition, the in-situ stability of the gel systems was studied by alternatively injecting carbon dioxide and water through the gelled porous media. Experiments were conducted with and without the presence of residual oil in order to investigate any role the residual oil might play. In addition, the experiments were conducted by adding sodium lactate to the gel solution with a ratio of sodium lactate to polymer equal to one to examine the effect of sodium lactate on the performance of the AF-935-chromium (III) gel system. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...