Progress and Effects of ASP Flooding

lkali/surfactant/polymer (ASP)
flooding is one of the main
chemical-enhanced-oil-recovery
techniques for increasing crude-oil
recovery used by PetroChina. Field
tests have been performed in China
since 1994, including six pilot tests
in sandstone and in conglomerate
reservoirs and three industrial tests.
Incremental oil recoveries of those
tests were greater than 1920%. Three
factors were found to be responsible for
successful ASP flooding.
Good performance of the oildisplacement agents
Good profile control and oildisplacement ability
Reasonable well pattern and well
spacing
Side effects included scaling and
corrosion damage to the lifting system
that shortened the average pumpchecking cycle, strong emulsification
that resulted in many liquid-treatment
problems, and greatly decreased
liquidproduction.

Introduction

Since 1994, five ASP-flooding pilot tests

have been carried out in different regions
of the Daqing oil field. Oil recoveries have
been enhanced by 20% compared with
waterflooding. Weak-alkali ASP-flooding
pilot tests were carried out in conglomerate reservoirs in the northern part of
the second middle zone of the Karamay
oil field, with oil recoveries improved

by more than 20%. Table 1 summarizes

these tests.
Four expanded ASP-flooding field
tests have been carried out in the Daqing oil field since 2000 using industrial surfactants made from heavy alkyl
benzene sulfonate (HABS) and petroleum sulfonate. The application was extended from a Type-I layer (higher average permeabilityapproximately
800103m2and a thicker oil layer)
to a Type-II layer (lower average permeabilityapproximately 500103 m2
and medium oil-layer thickness). ASP
flooding has been moved from strongalkali-type (NaOH) to weak-alkali-type
(Na2CO3) fluids.
With the progress of ASP-flooding
tests, ASP flooding has been applied on
a large scale in the Daqing oil field since
2007. Commercial application has been
implemented in the East-II Block of Xin
1-2 Region, the South 6 Region, the East-I
Block, and the East-II Block of Xin 6 Region. The total reserves of these regions
are 28.61106 m3.

Analysis of Field Tests

ASP flooding exhibited good enhanced

oil recovery in field tests.
Chemical Agents. Chemical agents used
in the ASP flooding were good quality and had stable performance. The ultralow oil/water interfacial tension (approximately 103 to 104 mN/m) was
achieved when 0.050.3 wt% surfactant
was mixed with 0.41.2 wt% alkali. The
adsorption loss of surfactant to the rock

This article, written by Senior Technology Editor Dennis Denney, contains highlights
of paper SPE 151285, Recent Progress and Effects Analysis of ASP-Flooding Field
Tests, by Youyi Zhu, SPE, Qingfeng Hou, Weidong Liu, SPE, Desheng Ma, SPE,
and Guangzhi Liao, SPE, State Key Laboratory of Enhanced Oil Recovery, Research
Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, Beijing, prepared for the 2012
SPE Improved Oil Recovery Symposium, Tulsa, 1418 April. The paper has not been
peer reviewed.

was less than 1 mg/g of sand. According

to sample data from the injecting well,
the pass rate of HABS surfactant for ASP
flooding was 99.5%. High-molecularweight polymer, a salt-resistant polymer
with a concentration of 1500 mg/L, was
mixed with Daqing-oilfield formation
water. The system showed good shear
resistance and long-term stability, with
a viscosity greater than 40 mPas. The
viscosity ratio of chemical fluid to crude
oil was ensured to be greater than 4.0.
High-purity liquid alkali produced by an
ionic-membrane process was used and
worked well with the surfactant, yielding reduced scale deposit in the injection zone.
Profile Control and Oil Displacement.
As indicated in Fig. 1, the injection pressure increased quickly from 5.8 MPa
during waterflooding to 8.5 MPa after
the injection of a polymer profilecontrol slug, and further increased to approximately 12 MPa after the injection of
the main ASP slug. The water-injection
profile changed with the increasing pressure, and the water-injection volume
by chemical flooding increased in lowpermeability layers, resulting in an extended swept volume.
Fig. 2 shows the oil production and
water cut of the South-5 test. Crude-oil
production increased after injecting the
ASP slug, reaching 727 t/d, 3.9 times that
of waterflooding. Water cut decreased
greatly, with an average decrement of
16.5%, with the largest decrement of
60% in some central wells, and much
larger than the 10% decrement with respect to polymer flooding in the same
block. Therefore, ASP flooding showed
a better efficiency in oil displacement.
Analysis of the composition of produced
crude oil indicated the presence of more
aromatic hydrocarbon, pectin, and asphaltene in the crude oil produced with
ASP flooding. Consequently, ASP flood-

For a limited time, the complete paper is free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt.
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TABLE 1ASP-FLOODING PILOT TESTS IN PETROCHINA

Effective
Thickness
(m)

Four injectors/nine producers,

five spot

106

8.6

0.809

21.4

Middle part of Xing-5

zone

One injector/four producers,

five spot

141

6.8

0.789

25.0

North-Middle zone,
Short well space

Three injectors/four producers,

four spot

75

10.7

0.767

23.24

West part of Xing-2

zone

Four injectors/nine producers,

five spot

200

5.8

0.858

19.30

West part of North-1

zone

Six injectors/12 producers,

five spot

250

9.76

0.812

20.63

Four injectors/nine producers,

five spot

50

15.0
to 22.0

0.157

24.5

Field and Projects

Pilot Tests in Daqing Oilfield

Improved
Recovery
(%OOIP)

Well
Spacing
(m)

Well Number and Pattern

West part of Middle

zone

North part of second Middle zone in

Kelamayi oil field

ing showed a stronger residual-oil recovery than waterflooding.

Well Pattern and Well Spacing. A fivespot well pattern was used in the ASPflooding tests in the Daqing oil field.
Well spacing had significant effects on
oil recovery, with a higher incremental
oil recovery of 2025% achieved in test
zones with closer well spacing (less than
125 m) and a lower recovery of 1820%
achieved with longer well spacing (175 to
250 m). As well spacing decreased, the

Injection
12
Pressure,
8
mPa

Effective
Permeability
(m 2 )

for Type-II reservoirs of the Daqing oil

field is approximately 125 m.

connectivity of sand bodies from injection well to production well increased,

leading to an increase in the degree of
control in oil layers. Study has shown
that the control degree of the North-1
East zone in a Type-II reservoir with a
well spacing of 125 m was 99.5% and
that the ultimate recovery was as high as
65.2% of the original oil in place (OOIP).
However, an undersized well spacing resulted in a higher cost of oil production,
which is not economically reasonable.
Currently, the reasonable well spacing

Side Effects. Side effects that occurred

in ASP-flooding field tests included two
main aspects. First, scaling and corrosion caused by the use of alkali damaged
the lifting system and shortened the average pump-checking cycle, resulting in
an increased workload for maintenance.
Second, the strong emulsification resulted in many produced-liquid-treatment problems.
12.1

12.1

11.9

8.4

5.8

4000

Injection
Volume, 2500
m3/d

2776

2346

2299

2000

1814

1000
Main ASP slug

Polymer slug

Viscosity,
mPa s

100
50

47

44

41

39

SecondaryASP slug
38

0
3

Water sopped
1.5
index,
(m3/d m mPa

1.67
0.95

0.56

0.65

0.54

2006.3 6

12

Fig. 1Injection curves of South-5 test of ASP flooding.

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12

12

12

Time, months

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Lifting System. Scaling and corrosion damaged the lifting system, and the
average pump-checking cycle was shortened accordingly. It was found that, in
strong-alkali ASP flooding, scaling could
shorten the pump-checking cycle greatly when the produced liquid contained
a high concentration of alkali, which
lasted approximately 1 year. Although
physical and chemical scale-prevention
efforts have been undertaken to prevent
scaling and extend the average pumpchecking cycle from 120 to 162 days,
the overall pump-checking cycle is still
50% shorter than that in the case of
polymerflooding.
Liquid Treatment. Strong emulsification resulted in many produced-
liquid-treatment problems. Strong emulsification occurred in the ASP-flooding
tests of the South-5 zone and the North1 East zone, and it was difficult to separate oil and water. The electric dehydrator was unstable, and the cross-electric
field frequency was high. The content of
suspended solids in water and of water
in the exported oil exceeded standards
in most cases when the concentration of
alkali and surfactant in produced liquid
was high, which lasted for 3 to 5 months,
with a peak time period at approximately 1 month. By improving the electrode
of the electric dehydrator, injecting demulsifying and antifoam agents, increasing the water-purification agent, and improving the water-treatment process,

Liquid,
t/d

5000

4211

Xinjiang oil fields from 2009 to 2010. SP

flooding has also been carried out in the
fault-block reservoir of the Gudong 7 Region in Shengli oil field, with incremental
oil recovery improved by 10.3%.
Feasibility studies of chemicalflooding technology in reservoirs characterized with high temperature and
high salinity have been carried out, such
as in the Qinghai oil field with a reservoir temperature of 90115C and salinity of 60 000110 000 mg/L. ASP-/SPflooding pilot tests have been carried out
in some marine-deposit reservoirs that
have high temperature and high salinity, such as the Kaji-Semoga oilfield carbonate reservoir in Indonesia with reservoir temperature of 83C and salinity of
15 000 mg/L. Feasibility studies of ASP/
SP flooding have been developed in the
Dulang oil field in Malaysia, which has a
temperature of 100120C and salinity of
36 000 mg/L.
The general development trends
in chemical flooding at PetroChina are
that the chemical-flooding system should
change from strong-alkali ASP flooding to
weak-alkali ASP flooding, then to alkalifree SP flooding. Target reservoirs would
expand from sandstone Type-I layers to
Type-II layers, from integral-sandstone
reservoirs to conglomerate reservoirs
and to complicated fault-block reservoirs, and from low-temperature/lowsalinity reservoirs to high-temperature/
high-salinity reservoirs. As flooding for-

the problem could be solved, but at a

high cost.
Liquid Production. As Figs. 1 and
2 show, respectively, liquid injection and
production decreased during the ASPslug injection. Liquid production was
36% lower than that in the case of water
flooding. The test showed that the decrease in liquid production was related
to the increase in the viscosity of oil-
displacement liquid and to emulsification and scaling after injecting the ASP
slug. In the weak-alkali ASP-flooding test
with close well spacing, emulsification
and scaling were not obvious, and liquid production decreased only slightly. But in the strong-alkali ASP-flooding
test with larger well spacing, such as the
North-1 West zone, the Xin-2 Middle region, and the South-5 zone, emulsification and scaling were serious and the
liquid-production decrease was large.

Development Trends
and Challenges

To avoid the side effects of alkali, it is important to develop an alkali-free surfactant/polymer (SP) technology. Alkali-free
SP-flooding field tests have been conducted in the Liaohe, Jilin, and X
injiang oil
fields. The reservoirs are characterized
as medium-high permeability, m
ediumlow permeability, and conglomerateformation conditions, respectively. SP
flooding has been carried out in the Jilin
oil field since 2008 and in the L iaohe and

3622

3494

2705

2833

3000
1000

Oil,
t/d

727.5

750
400

425.5

241.4

186.2

220.6
Increase 3.9 times

50
Polymer
93. 3 slug

99 95.6

Water cut,
%
89

Main ASP slug

2006.3

91.8

85.0
79.2

79

Polymer 1200
concentration, 600
0
mg/L

SecondaryASP slug

Decrease 16. 5%

12

748

525

103

12

12

12

Time, months
Fig. 2Production curves of South-5 test of ASP flooding.

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mulations are developed and applied to

more reservoirs, chemical flooding will
confront several challenges.
Stable High-Performance Oil-Displacing Surfactants. Ultralow interfacial
tension can be achieved in alkali-free
SP flooding only when good surfactants
are used. Thus, developing surfactants
with excellent interfacial performance is
crucial. Also, to decrease adsorption of
surfactant on the rock surface, new surfactants (or a chemical formula with low
adsorption) should be developed. Currently available products are insufficient.
Oil-Displacing Agent With Good Heat
and Salt Resistance. In some high-
temperature reservoirs (>90C), a normal polymer producthydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM)will degrade and
cease to be effective. Therefore, a heatresistant polymer should be developed.
In some high-salinity reservoirs, with
salinity >50 000 mg/L and more than
1000 mg/L of bivalent cation, the viscosifying action of normal HPAM will decrease dramatically. Thus, a novel polymer with excellent salt tolerance should
be developed. Most anion surfactants,
such as alkyl benzene sulfonate and petroleum sulfonate, will precipitate in the
presence of high-salinity brine. Nonionic or zwitterionic oil-displacement surfactants with excellent salt resistance
should be developed.
Treatment System For Produced Liquid. The residual polymer and surfactant in produced liquid from chemical
flooding will increase the difficulty of
treating produced liquid compared with
treating produced liquid from waterflooding or polymer flooding. Therefore,
low-cost chemical-treatment agents
such as demulsifiers, flocculants, and
water- purifying agents, as well as high-
efficiency treating equipment, should
bedeveloped.
Optimized Injection Process. Many of
PetroChinas oil fields have entered the
high-water-cut stage, or have developed
a thief layer with a preferential flow path.
It is highly important to enhance oil recovery by use of profile-control technologies during the chemical-flooding process. The injection-slug volume and the

concentration of chemical agents need

to be optimized further to improve displacing performance and to lower costs.
Well pattern and well spacing for different types of reservoirs should be optimized further also.

Conclusions

ASP-flooding pilot tests and

industrialization tests have been
carried out that have obtained
high incremental recovery. In the
Daqing oil field, ASP flooding has
been extended to a large-area
application.
Analysis of the field tests showed
that key factors for success of the
tests include good performance
of the oil-displacement agents,
good profile control and oildisplacement ability, and
reasonable well patterns and
wellspacing.
Problems that occurred in field
tests included alkali causing
scaling and corrosion (damaging
the lifting system and reducing
the average pump-checking
cycle, which in turn increased
the workload for maintenance)
and strong emulsification that
resulted in many producedliquid-treatmentproblems.
Development trends in chemical
flooding include replacing
strong-alkali ASP flooding with
weak-alkali ASP flooding or
even alkali-free SP flooding.
Applicable reservoirs include
sandstone, conglomerate,
and complicated fault-block
reservoirs; low-salinity/lowtemperature reservoirs; and
high-salinity/high-temperature
reservoirs.
With development of new
chemical systems and expansion
of target reservoirs, chemicalcombination technologies
confront challenges including
development of stable highperformance oil-displacing
agents with good heat and
salt resistance, development
of better produced-liquidtreatment systems, and further
optimization of injection
processes in field tests. JPT

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