An oil-based gel system for reservoir rock permeability modification

Abstract Water production during gas and oil recovery is a major problem for the oil industry, as the average worldwide production is more than five barrels of water per barrel of oil. Among the many attempted remedies, water-based polymers and cross-linked gels are often injected into the reservoir to control excessive water production. Recently, oil-based gelant systems have been proposed which are oil-soluble. These systems react with the reservoir water to form a rigid water-based gel during the shut-in period, thereby drastically reducing the permeability of the reservoir to water. The aim of this paper is to improve the understanding of how the flow of oil and water are affected by one of the oil-based gelant systems, TMOS. The gelation behaviour and gel characteristics were studied under static and dynamic conditions. Two-dimensional transparent glass models were used to study the effect of gelant flow, and evaluate the effectiveness of the gel in modifying the oil and water permeability. The ability of the gel to modify the water flow at different flow velocities yields a velocity-dependent permeability. New insights are presented that may help reservoir and production engineers to select and design better gel treatments for a given reservoir.