POLYMER INJECTION FOR HEAVY OIL RECOVERY USING GUM ARABIC AND GUAR GUM

ABSTRACT

Literature on oil and gas production shows that 40% to 55% of oil reserves are left in situ after primary and secondary recovery processes such as water flooding and artificial lift. The reserve left has to be recovered by Enhanced Oil Recovery process. Polymer flooding is one of the feasible Enhanced Oil Recovery processes for recovering additional heavy oil by increasing the viscosity of the water, reducing water mobility. In this research, two polymer flooding experiments were performed. First, a 4% weight concentration of Guar Gum slug and second, a polymer slug of 10% weight concentration Gum Arabic. Using core holder packed with glass beads and attaining an average porosity of 0.4223 and a pore volume of 49.01cc for both experiments.