Unlocking oil reserves: Optimizing polymer injection for enhanced recovery

This study aims to compare the effectiveness of two polymer mobility design methods, namely Endpoint and James Sheng methods, for optimizing the viscosity target in polymer injection enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Coreflood tests were conducted to evaluate the impact of the mobility design method on injected polymer viscosity and oil recovery. The results showed that the choice of mobility design method significantly affected the injected polymer viscosity and ultimate oil recovery. A higher polymer viscosity was found to increase sweep efficiency, resulting in better oil recovery, but also led to injectivity issues. Thus, careful consideration is required when selecting a polymer mobility design method to achieve optimum oil recovery while minimizing injectivity issues. These findings have significant implications for optimizing the polymer injection process for EOR applications.