Determination of uniform criteria for the applicability of technologies for enhanced oil recovery methods and development of a tool for screening these technologies

Nowadays, many literature sources exist, containing the applicability criteria for enhanced oil recovery methods (hereinafter - EOR). The criteria were developed by the world experts, specialized oil and gas companies, determined in the laboratory and confirmed by field experience. In a number of cases, the authors compile databases with the fields, where different EOR technologies were used, evaluate their effectiveness, the complexity of the application, and the peculiarities of the implementation of the EOR technologies for certain geological and physical conditions of the fields. Based on the results of such analytical work, it is possible to determine the optimal ranges for the application of certain EOR technologies, and recommend their use in screening in order to further evaluate potentially suitable technologies under the laboratory and field conditions.

This paper presents the uniform criteria for the applicability of the key technologies of chemical, thermal, gas and microbiological EOR. To unify these criteria, an extensive literature review, a retrospective analysis of the previously tested EOR technologies, an analysis of the geological, physical and technological conditions for the use of the EOR technologies have been carried out. In order to compare the geological and physical parameters of the reservoirs and the technological parameters of the fields with certain unified applicability criteria, a screening tool has been developed, which takes into account all the necessary criteria for identifying the priority EOR technologies.