Study of Enhanced-Oil-Recovery

Mechanism of Alkali/Surfactant/Polymer
Flooding in Porous Media From
Experiments
Pingping Shen, SPE, Jialu Wang, SPE, Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, PetroChina;
Shiyi Yuan, SPE, Taixian Zhong, SPE, PetroChina; and Xu Jia, Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and
Development, PetroChina

Summary ter), bridging between inner pore and outer pore, is the main
The fluid-flow mechanism of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in mechanism of ASP flooding in an oil-wetting reservoir. For a
porous media by alkali/surfactant/polymer (ASP) flooding is vertical heterogeneous reservoir, ASP flooding increases dis-
investigated by measuring the production performance, pressure, placement efficiency by displacing residual oil through decreased
and saturation distributions through the installed differential- IFT, simultaneously improving sweep efficiency by extending the
pressure transducers and saturation-measurement probes in a swept area in both vertical and horizontal directions. Some physi-
physical model of a vertical heterogeneous reservoir. The fluid- cal and chemical phenomena, such as emulsion, scale deposition,
flow variation in the reservoir is one of the main mechanisms of and chromatographic separation, occur during ASP flooding (Ari-
EOR of ASP flooding, and the nonlinear coupling and interaction hara et al. 1999; Guo 1999). Because ASP flooding in porous
between pressure and saturation fields results in the fluid-flow media involves many complicated physicochemical properties,
variation in the reservoir. In the vertical heterogeneous reservoir, many oil-recovery mechanisms still need to be investigated.
the ASP agents flow initially in the high-permeability layer. Later, Most research has been performed on the microscopic dis-
the flow direction changes toward the low- and middle-permeabil- placement mechanism of ASP flooding, while the fluid-flow
ity layers because the resistance in the high-permeability layer mechanism in porous media at the macroscopic scale lacks suffi-
increases on physical and chemical reactions such as adsorption, cient study. In this paper, a vertical-heterogeneous-reservoir model
retention, and emulsion. ASP flooding displaces not only the re- is established, and differential-pressure transducers and saturation-
sidual oil in the high-permeability layer but also the remaining oil measuring probes are installed. The fluid-flow mechanism of
in the low- and middle-permeability layers by increasing both increasing both macroscopic sweep efficiency and microscopic
swept volume and displacement efficiency. displacement efficiency is studied by measuring the production
performance and the variation of pressure and saturation distribu-
tions in the ASP-flooding experiment. An experimental database
Introduction of ASP flooding also is set up and provides an experimental base
Currently, most oil fields in China are in the later production for numerical simulation.
period and the water cut increases rapidly, even to more than
80%. Waterflooding no longer meets the demands of oilfield
production. Thus, it is inevitable that a new technology will re- Experimental Apparatus and Method
place waterflooding. The new technique of ASP flooding has been Experimental Apparatus. The experimental apparatus is com-
developed on the basis of alkali-, surfactant-, and polymer-flood- posed of six subsystems: a driving pump, the physical model, a
ing research in the late 1980s. ASP flooding uses the benefits of saturation-measurement system, a pressure-measurement system,
the three flooding methods simultaneously, and oil recovery is a liquid-collection system, and a control and data-acquisition sys-
greatly enhanced by decreasing interfacial tension (IFT), increas- tem. The experimental apparatus is illustrated in Fig. 1.
ing the capillary number, enhancing microscopic displacing effi- The driving pump is one set of ISCO 500D syringe pumps. The
ciency, improving the mobility ratio, and increasing macroscopic control and measurement system is composed of 25 differential-
sweeping efficiency (Shen and Yu 2002; Wang et al. 2000; Wang pressure transducers, 37 saturation-measuring probes, a pressure
et al. 2002; Sui et al. 2000). transducer, a temperature-measuring probe, an HP75000 data-
Recently, much intensive research has been done on ASP acquisition set, and a Pentium II processor. The liquid-collection
flooding both in China and worldwide, achieving some important system is composed of three oil/water two-phase flowmeters that
accomplishments that lay a solid foundation for the extension of can measure the quantity of water and oil automatically with high
this technique to practical application in oil fields (Baviere et al. precision. The range of the 25 differential-pressure transducers is
1995; Thomas 2005; Yang et al. 2003; Li et al. 2003). In previous DP = 0–70 kPa, and the precision is
2.5%. The range of the 37
work, the ASP-flooding mechanism was studied visually by using saturation-measuring probes is Sw = 0–1.0, and the precision is
a microscopic-scale model and double-pane glass models with
3.4%. The whole process of experiment and data acquisition is
sand (Liu et al. 2003; Zhang 1991). In these experiments, the controlled automatically by a computer. The automation reduces
water-viscosity finger, the residual-oil distribution after water- errors and improves measurement precision.
flooding, and the oil bank formed by microscopic emulsion flood- The physical model is a heterogeneous sand-packing model
ing were observed. In Tong et al. (1998) and Guo (1990), with a vertically positive rhythm. The model-geometry size is
deformation, threading, emulsion (oil/water), and strapping were length L = 0.5 m, width W = 0.5 m, and height H = 0.1 m. The
observed as the main mechanisms of ASP flooding in a water- model is divided into three layers with the same width and differ-
wetting reservoir, while the interface-producing emulsion (oil/wa- ent permeabilities. The permeability K of these three layers is
0.15, 0.55, and 2.1 mm2, respectively. The heterogeneity-variation
factor is 0.72. The three layers are separated by nonpermeable
Copyright ã 2009 Society of Petroleum Engineers
boards. A vertical injection well injects fluid into the three layers
This paper (SPE 126128) was revised for publication from paper IPTC 11257, first pre- simultaneously, and the produced liquid is collected at the outlets
sented at the International Petroleum Technology Conference, Dubai, 4–6 December 2007.
Original manuscript received for review 2 June 2007. Revised manuscript received for
of the three layers. The model simulates the unified injection and
review 13 March 2008. Paper peer approved 19 March 2008. separated production in an interbedded heterogeneous reservoir.

June 2009 SPE Journal 237

 Fig. 2—Sketch of experimental model and location of transdu-
cers.

Fig.1—Schematic of the experimental apparatus. 10  1016 Om. The electrical property of a reservoir reflects
the water-saturation variation. When an electrical current I is
The thick black lines in the model represent the borders of the supplied between Electrodes A and B, an electric field is estab-
three different layers, as shown in Fig. 2. lished in the reservoir. The electrical-potential difference be-
Thirty-seven saturation-measuring probes and 25 differential- tween the two measuring electrodes M and N is measured, and
pressure transducers are installed in the model. Among them, 10 the difference reflects electrical-resistivity variation in the res-
differential-pressure transducers and 11 saturation-measuring ervoir, as shown in Fig. 3.
probes are in the high-permeability layer, five differential- The electrical current I is a low-frequency rectangle-wave
pressure transducers and 14 saturation-measuring probes are in alternating current and is adjustable. The electrical-potential dif-
the middle-permeability layer, and 10 differential-pressure trans- ference between M and N, DUMN, is measured, and resistivity R is
ducers and 12 saturation-measuring probes are in the low-perme- calculated with the following equation:
ability layer. In Fig. 2, the points marked by only a number are the
DUMN
differential-pressure transducers and the points marked with a R¼b ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1)
number plus “a” are the saturation-measuring probes. I
where b is the electrode-system coefficient, which is related only
Experimental Procedure. Quartz sands of different sizes were to the dimension and type of electrode system. b is determined in
mixed together and placed into a tube to measure permeability. a uniform medium with known electric conductivity.
The quartz sands of different sizes were used as the experimental After measuring the electrical resistivity of a reservoir, the
porous media and were mixed with brine in the model. The grain saturation is calculated according to Archie’s law:
size with permeability K = 0.15 mm2 was a mixture of 50% grain bRo
of 80–100 mesh and 50% grain of 160–180 mesh. The grain size Snw ¼ ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2)
Rt
with permeability K = 0.55 mm2 was a mixture of 75% grain of
80–100 mesh and 25% grain of 160–180 mesh. The grain size of where Rt is the resistivity of rock saturated with oil (measured
permeability K = 2.1 mm2 was a mixture of 80% grain of 80–100 resistivity), Ro is the resistivity of rock saturated with water, Sw is
mesh and 20% grain of 160–180 mesh. After the model was the water saturation, b is a coefficient, n is the saturation index,
saturated with brine, simulated oil was used to displace the water. and b and n are determined through a coreflooding experiment. In
The injection and production wells were exchanged during the oil- an ASP-flooding experiment, b and n should be modified by the
saturating process until there was no displaced water in the pro- ASP-flooding displacement (Shen et al. 2002).
duction well. The irreducible water saturation in the model was On the basis of the electrode-measurement theory, the small
approximately 25%. saturation probes were made to measure the water-saturation vari-
During the ASP-flooding experiment, 0.3 pore volumes (PV) ation in 3D physical modeling with advanced techniques, such as
of ASP solution was injected when the water cut reached 95%. double molding, and antioxidization and anticorrosion materials.
After the ASP slug was injected, 0.2 PV of polymer solution was The shape and size of the probe is shown in Fig. 4. The probe is
injected as a protecting slug. Waterflooding followed the polymer
slug. The experiment was ended when the water cut reached 95%
again. In the experiment, data from the 25 differential-pressure
transducers and the 37 water-saturation-measuring probes were
collected every 5 seconds with inlet pressures and volumes of
produced water and oil.
The chemical concentration of the ASP agents used for the
experiment was 0.15 wt% 2600E polyacrylamide, 0.1 wt% sodium
hydroxide (NaOH), and 0.35 wt% of heavy alkyl-benzene
sulfonate surfactant. The viscosity of the ASP solution was m =
43–44 mPas, and the IFT of the ASP flooding was s = 5.510-3
mN/m. The oil used in the experiment was a simulated oil with
viscosity m = 10.0 mPas. The brine used to make the solution and
drive the water consisted of pure water and 2 wt% sodium chloride
(NaCl).

Saturation-Measurement Method. The electric-resistivity dif-

ference between brine and oil is large. For brine, it is quite
low, and, for oil, it almost reaches infinity at approximately Fig. 3—Schematic of saturation-measuring mechanism.

238 June 2009 SPE Journal

 Experimental Results and Discussion
Many physical modeling experiments have been conducted
recently on EOR by ASP flooding. The experimental results
showed that ASP can enhance oil recovery greatly. In this paper,
an ASP-flooding experiment is taken as an example to study the
fluid-flow mechanism of ASP flooding, such as the enhancement
of both displacement and sweep efficiency, by analyzing produc-
tion performance and the variation of pressure and saturation
distributions.
Fig. 4—Sketch of saturation-measuring probe.
Production Performance. As illustrated in Fig. 5a, under the
conditions of this experiment, the oil recovery is 54% for water-
composed of three parts: (1) a coupling section, which connects flooding and 70.6% at the end of ASP flooding. The EOR is
electrodes and saturation-measuring system with a cable (Fig. 1); 16.6% after ASP flooding. In the water-cut curve (Fig. 5c), it is
(2) a sealing section, which seals the probe when it passes through shown that water begins to break through to the production well
the physical model; and (3) electrodes, which measure the electri- when the injected volume reaches 0.25 PV and that water cut
cal resistivity of the reservoir. The diameter of the probe is 5 mm, reaches approximately 97% at the end of waterflooding. When
and the distance between electrodes is 15 mm. The width of each the ASP slug is injected, the water cut declines gradually to its
electrode is 1.8 mm, and the measuring error of a probe is less lowest point of 52%, then rises again sharply until it reaches
than
3.4%. The detailed structure of a probe is shown in Shen 100%. As illustrated by the recovery curve (Fig. 5b), oil recovery
et al. (2002) and the patent by Wang and Shen. rises slowly during ASP flooding and rises quickly in the follow-

Fig. 5—Production-performance curves of ASP flooding. (a) Production performance of ASP flooding. (b) Oil recovery of three
different permeability layers. (c) Water cut of three different permeability layers. (d) Produced-liquid percentage of three perme-
ability layers.

June 2009 SPE Journal 239

up waterflooding by 12.6%. The inlet pressure during waterflood- water cut of the low-permeability layer drops even later than that
ing remains stable at approximately 15 kPa and increases greatly of the middle-permeability layer; but, the curve fluctuation of the
to a peak of 150 kPa during ASP flooding. Even though the low-permeability layer is large and the drop is small.
pressure decreases during the follow-up waterflooding, it is still The liquid-production percentage curves of the three layers are
higher than that during waterflooding alone. The reason is that the shown in Fig. 5d. The liquid volume produced from the three
synergistic effect of adsorption, retention, and emulsion of ASP permeability layers shows that the liquid-production-percentage
agents increases residue resistance. curves of the three layers remain constant before water breaks
The oil-recovery curves of the three permeability layers are through into the production wells (injected volume < 0.25 PV).
shown in Fig. 5b. During ASP flooding, the recovery from the high- In this period, the produced liquid is the greatest, approximately
permeability layer rises first approximately 15.9% then the recovery 42%, in the high-permeability layer while it is the least, approxi-
from the middle-permeability layer rises approximately 17%. Last, mately 22%, in the low-permeability layer. After water breaks
the recovery from the low-permeability layer slowly rises approxi- through in the high-permeability layer (0.25 PV  injected vol-
mately 12.6%. When the ASP solution enters the high-permeability ume  0.9 PV), the produced liquid increases rapidly and then
layer, the enhancement extent of recovery is larger in the high- remains at 55%. The liquid in the middle-permeability layer also
permeability layer and smaller in the middle- and low-permeability decreases and remains at 27%, while the produced liquid in the
layers. In the follow-up waterflooding, the recovery enhancement is low-permeability layer drops to 18%. Because of the ASP agents’
relatively larger in both the middle- and low-permeability layers and effect, the flow resistance increases and adjusts the flow profile
is smaller in the high-permeability layer. This trend will be clearer in the high-permeability layer, which makes the produced liquid
from the illustration of pressure and saturation variations. in the high-permeability layer decrease and the liquid in the
The water-cut curves of the three permeability layers are middle- and low-permeability layers increase. During the follow-
shown in Fig. 5c. The water cut of the high-permeability layer up waterflooding, the liquid produced in the high-permeability
drops first to its lowest point of 42%. The water cut of the middle- layer increases rapidly again but decreases in the middle- and
permeability layer does not drop until the follow-up waterflood- low-permeability layer as the ASP solution is displaced gradually
ing, but the drop to the lowest point of 5% is the greatest. The out of the high-permeability layer.

Fig. 6—Pressure variation at different locations in the model. (a) Pressure variation in high-permeability layer. (b) Pressure
variation in middle-permeability layer. (c) Pressure variation in low-permeability layer. (d) Pressure difference between inlet and
outlet in three different permeability layers.

240 June 2009 SPE Journal

Pressure Variation. The pressure variation in the model is shown
in Fig. 6. (The locations of the differential-pressure transducers
are shown in Fig. 2.) In the high-permeability layer, during water-
flooding, the pressures of three points in the model are stable
(Fig. 4 a). The value of the P1 transducer near the injection well
is higher than that of the P5 transducer near the production well.
During ASP flooding, displacing pressure increases because of the
high viscosity of the ASP solution. Thus, the pressure of the P1
transducer, which is closest to the injection well, increases ear-
liest. The pressure of the P4 transducer, which is in the middle of
the model, is higher than that of the P5 transducer, which is close
to the production well. Through comparing the pressure variation
of three positions, the gradual movement of the ASP solution from
the injection well to the production well is observed. Because of
physicochemical reactions such as adsorption, retention, and
emulsion of ASP agents in reservoir, the pressure in the high-
permeability layer becomes lower gradually from the injection
well to the production well during the follow-up waterflooding.
But, it is still higher than that of waterflooding alone, which
means a higher residual resistance in the follow-up waterflooding.
The variations of pressure in the middle- and low-permeability
layers are close to that of the high-permeability layer (Figs. 6b
and 6c).
The differential pressures between the inlet and outlet of the
high-, middle- and low-permeability layers are shown in Fig. 6d.
(DP1 = P1-P5 in the high-permeability layer. DP2 = P13-P15 in
the middle-permeability layer. DP3 = P21-P25 in the low-perme-
ability layer). During waterflooding (injected volume < 0.96 PV),
the differential pressure of the three layers varies moderately
without serious fluctuations. The differential pressure is the high-
est in the high-permeability layer, is intermediate in the middle-
permeability layer, and is lowest in the low-permeability layer.
After the injection of the ASP slug, the differential pressure in
these three layers increases almost simultaneously. This means
that the ASP solution enters the three layers almost simultaneous- Fig. 7—Pressure distribution of ASP flooding. (a) Waterflood-
ly. After that, the differential pressure in these three layers begins ing (0.0 PV). (b) Waterflooding (0.9 PV). (c) ASP flooding
to increase differently. The differential pressure increases rapidly, (1.39 PV). (d) ASP flooding (1.35 PV). (e) Follow-up waterflood-
and the gradient is highest in the high-permeability layer. The ing (1.45 PV). (f) Follow-up waterflooding (1.93 PV).
differential pressure increases most slowly and the gradient is
least in the low-permeability layer. In the follow-up waterflood- leaves Probe a1. When the injected volume reaches 1.18 PV,
ing, the ASP solution flows fast in the high-permeability layer, so Probe a3 detects that water saturation drops from 0.69 to 0.48,
the oil bank in this layer is displaced earliest and the differential which indicates that the oil bank has moved to the middle of the
pressure gradient decreases fastest. The differential-pressure of model near Probe a3. Then, the water saturation of Probe a3 probe
the low-permeability layer decreases slowest. rises again to 0.87 after the oil bank moves away from Probe a3.
The pressure distribution in the high-permeability layer is ob- When the oil bank moves near the production well, Probe a7
viously higher than that in the middle- and low-permeability detects the oil bank by measuring a water-saturation drop from
layers (Fig. 7) because the high-viscosity ASP solution enters the 0.52 to 0.38 when the injected volume is 1.36 PV. The water
high-permeability layer more than it does in the middle- and low- saturation then rises again to 0.84. When the oil bank reaches the
permeability layers (Fig. 5d). In Fig. 7, a dense contour-lines production well as the injected volume is 1.48 PV, the water cut
zone, which is a high-pressure gradient, is formed during ASP of the production well drops rapidly from 97 to 42% and the
flooding. This zone extends gradually from the high-permeability recovery increases by 15.7%. The water saturations in the middle-
layer to the middle- and low-permeability layers and moves faster and low-permeability layers have the same variation, but the oil-
in the high-permeability layer than that it does in the middle- and bank formation time lags and the moving velocity slows down
low-permeability layers (Figs. 7b and 7c). The formation time and (Figs. 8b and 8c).
moving velocity in the high-pressure-gradient zone are almost the Comparing the water-saturation curves of each layer, it is seen
same as those in the oil bank (Figs. 9b and 9c) of the reservoir. that the formation of the oil bank in the high-, middle-, and low-
Accordingly, the movement of the pressure-gradient zone reflects permeability layers occurs at approximately the same time but that
the movement of the oil bank. The pressure gradient between the moving velocities are different. The ratio of the moving velo-
two points in the oil bank increases while the pressure outside cities in the high-, middle-, and low-permeability layers is V1:V2:
the oil bank, such as near an injection well, is high and the V3 = 2.6:1.4:1. (The oil-bank-moving velocity is V = DL/Dt, where
gradient is not. DL is the distance between two saturation-measuring probes and
Dt is the time of oil-bank movement). From the data, the moving
Water-Saturation Variation. Fig. 8a shows the water-saturation velocity of the oil bank in the high-permeability layer is 2.6 times
curves of three points—near the injection well, in the middle of that in the low-permeability layer.
the model, and near the production well—and the water-cut curve The movement of the front edge of the oil bank according to
of the production well in the high-permeability layer. The average the saturation of each point is shown in Fig. 8d. The horizontal
irreducible water saturation measured by Probes a1, a3, and a7 is axis is the ratio of the coordinate of the front edge l of the oil bank
0.35. After waterflooding, water saturations measured by Probes and the distance between the injection and production well L (i.e.,
a1, a3, and a7 are 0.64, 0.69, and 0.52, respectively. During the l/L). The vertical axis is the injected volume (after ASP solution is
ASP flooding, Probe a1 detects the oil bank first, and water satu- injected). When the injected volume of ASP solution reaches 0.44
ration drops rapidly from 0.64 to 0.46 when the injected volume is PV, the oil bank in the high-permeability layer moves to the
1.02 PV. The water saturation rises to 0.85 after the oil bank production well of the model. At the same time, the front edges

June 2009 SPE Journal 241

Fig. 8—Water-saturation variation of ASP flooding. (a) Water-saturation variation in high-permeability layer. (b) Water-saturation
variation in middle-permeability layer. (c) Water-saturation variation in low-permeability layer. (d) Front-edge movement of oil bank
of ASP flooding.

in the middle- and low-permeability layers reach 0.6 L and 0.4 L, water cut of the production well starts to drop (Fig. 5c), and the oil
respectively. The oil bank in the middle-permeability layer recovery begins to rise (Fig. 5b).
reaches the production well when the injected volume is 0.57 PV During ASP flooding, the ASP solution initially moves faster
and the front edge of the oil bank in the low-permeability layer is in the high-permeability layer than it does in the middle- and
at 0.6 L. Last, the oil bank in the low-permeability layer reaches low-permeability layers because complex physicochemical reac-
the production well when the injected volume is 0.91 PV. tions, such as adsorption, retention, and emulsion of the ASP
Fig. 9 is a contour map of water-saturation distribution during solution, cause the flow resistance and the pressure to increase.
ASP flooding. The formation and the moving velocity of the oil Therefore, the pressure difference in the high-permeability layer
bank can be observed through water-saturation variation. The becomes higher than those in the middle- and low-permeability
formation of time of the oil bank in the reservoir is nearly the layers, as shown in Fig. 6d, which results in the fluid changing
same in these three permeability layers, but the movement of oil flow direction from the high-permeability layer toward the mid-
bank in the high-permeability layer is faster than it is in the dle- and low-permeability layers. The flow rate and the produced
middle- and low-permeability layers. The water saturation in- liquid decrease in the high-permeability layer, but they increase in
creases rapidly after the oil bank flows over. Therefore, only when the middle- and low-permeability layers (Fig. 5d).
the oil bank moves to the production well can ASP flooding In the follow-up waterflooding, when the ASP solution flows
enhance oil recovery greatly. out of the model, the flow resistance and pressure in the high-
permeability layer decrease (Fig. 6d) and the fluid flow turns
Comparison and Analysis. Comparing the production perfor- toward the high-permeability layer. Then, the flow rate and the
mance (Fig. 5), the pressure variation (Figs. 6 and 7), and water produced liquid increase again in the high-permeability layer and
saturation variation (Figs. 8 and 9) of the ASP flooding in the decrease in the middle- and low-permeability layers (Fig. 5d).
vertical-heterogeneous-layer model, we find that the fluid-flow Therefore, the variation of flow paths in the reservoir is the
distribution in the reservoir is the main mechanism of production important factor to enhance oil recovery greatly by ASP flooding.
performance variation. For example, when the oil bank in the
high-permeability layer is close to the production well (Fig. 8a, Experimental Database. A series of chemical-flooding experi-
the injected volume is approximately 1.48 PV), the pressure at all ments have been conducted, such as 1D, 2D, and 3D experiments,
points in the reservoir reaches the highest values (Fig. 6a), the polymer flooding, and ASP flooding. All the experimental data

242 June 2009 SPE Journal

 layers. So, the oil recovery of the high-permeability layer in-
creases and the water cut decreases earlier than those in the
middle- and low-permeability layers.
• In a vertical heterogeneous reservoir, the mechanism of ASP
flooding to enhance oil recovery is that the recovery enhance-
ment in the high-permeability layer is by means of displacing
residual oil (i.e., by means of increasing displacement efficien-
cy). The variation of flow paths causes ASP agents to sweep
into the middle- and low-permeability layers and displace the
remaining oil there. Therefore, the oil recovery of the middle-
and low-permeability layers is enhanced by improving efficien-
cy of both sweeping and displacing.

Nomenclature
b = coefficient
H = height
I = electrical current
K = permeability
l = coordinate
L = length
n = saturation index
P = pressure
Rt = resistivity of rock saturated with oil
Ro = resistivity of rock saturated with water
Sw = water saturation
t = time
V = velovity
W = width
b = electrode-system coefficient
m = viscosity
s = interfacial tension

Acknowledgments
This research was conducted with the financial support of
Fig. 9—Water-saturation distribution of ASP flooding. (a) National Key Fundamental Research Program of China under
Waterflooding (0.3 PV). (b) Waterflooding (0.92 PV). (c) ASP grants 2005CB221300 and G1999022511. The support is grate-
flooding (1.21 PV). (d) ASP flooding (1.35 PV). (e) Follow-up fully acknowledged.
waterflooding (1.45 PV). (f) Follow-up waterflooding (1.93 PV).

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is nearly the same, and the movement velocity in the high- Paper SPE 64509 presented at the SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas
permeability layer is faster, so the oil bank reaches the produc- Conference and Exhibition, Brisbane, Australia, 16–18 October. doi:
tion well earlier than in the middle- and low-permeability 10.2118/64509-MS.

June 2009 SPE Journal 243

Thomas, S. 2005. Chemical EOR: The Past—Does It Have a Future? Pingping Shen is a professor at the Research Institute of Petro-
Paper SPE 108828 presented as an SPE Distinguished Lecture, leum Exploration and Development (RIPED). An SPE distin-
2005–06. guished member, he holds a BS degree in fluid mechanics from
Tong, Z., Yang, C., Wu, G., Yuan, H., Yu, L., and Tian, G. 1998. A Study Fudan University in Shanghai. He has worked with PetroChina for
more than 40 years. He has been vice president of PetroChina
of Microscopic Flooding Mechanism of Surfacant/Alkali/Polymer. Pa-
Company Limited and president of RIPED. His interests include
per SPE 39662 presented at the SPE/DOE Improved Oil Recovery fluid mechanics in porous media, petrophysics, EOR, resource
Symposium, Tulsa, 19–22 April. doi: 10.2118/39662-MS. usage, and underground storage of CO2 in EOR. He has pub-
Wang, D., Cheng. J., Li, Q., Jiang, Y., Sun, Y., and He, Y., 2000. Experi- lished six books and more than 60 papers. Jialu Wang is a profes-
ence of IOR Practices from Large-Scale Implementation in Layered sor at RIPED. He holds a PhD degree in fluid mechanics from
Sandstones. Paper SPE 64287 presented at the SPE Asia Pacific Oil Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is the dep-
and Gas Conference and Exhibition, Brisbane, Australia, 16–18 Octo- uty director of production engineering at RIPED. His interests
ber. doi: 10.2118/64287-MS. include fluid mechanics in porous media, low-permeability
reservoirs, horizontal well production, and EOR. He has published
Wang, D., Sun, Y., Wang, Y., and Tang, X. 2002. Producing More Than two books and more than 40 papers. Shiyi Yuan is a member of
75% of Daqing Oil Field’s Production by IOR, What Experiences the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a professor at RIPED.
Have Been Learnt? Paper SPE 77871 presented at the SPE Asia Pacif- He is the president of the Science & Technology Management
ic Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition, Melbourne, Australia, 8–10 Department of PetroChina. He holds a PhD degree in reservoir
October. doi: 10.2118/77871-MS. engineering from the French Institute of Petroleum. His research
Wang, J., and Shen, P. Saturation measuring method and measuring probe. interests include reservoir engineering, numerical simulation,
China Patent No. ZL 01123944.1. and EOR. He has published three books and more than 40
Yang, X.M., Liao, G., Han, P., Yang, Z., and Yao, Y. 2003. An Extended papers. Taixian Zhong is a senior engineer at RIPED. He works in
the Science & Technology Management Department of Petro-
Field Test Study on Alkaline-Surfactant-Polymer Flooding in Beiyi-
China. He holds a PhD degree in reservoir engineering from the
duanxi of Daqing Oilfield. Paper SPE 80532 presented at the SPE Asia China University of Geosciences. His interests include phase be-
Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition, Jakarta, 9–11 Septem- havior, reservoir description, and EOR. He has published more
ber. doi: 10.2118/80532-MS. than 20 papers. Xu Jia is a senior engineer at RIPED. He holds an
Zhang Jingcun. 1991. Study of enhanced oil recovery. Beijing: Petroleum MS degree in reservoir engineering from RIPED. His interests in-
Industry Publication Company. clude EOR and physical modeling.

244 June 2009 SPE Journal