S

SPE 1556
651

W
Wettabilitty and Oil Recove
ery by Low
w Salinity
y Injectio
on
B
Behruz Shake
er Shiran and Arne Skaugee,
U
Uni CIPR and
d Univ. of Berg
gen, Norway

C
Copyright 2012, Society
y of Petroleum Enginee
ers

T
This paper was prepare
ed for presentation at the SPE EOR Conferen
nce at Oil and Gas We
est Asia held in Muscatt, Oman, 16–18 April 2
2012.

T
This paper was selected for presentation by an a SPE program comm mittee following review of information containned in an abstract submmitted by the author(s)). Contents of the papeer have not been
re
eviewed by the Society y of Petroleum Engine eers and are subject to o correction by the autthor(s). The material ddoes not necessarily reeflect any position of the Society of Petroleu
um Engineers, its
officers, or members. Electronic
E reproductionn, distribution, or stora
age of any part of thiss paper without the wrritten consent of the S Society of Petroleum E Engineers is prohibite
ed. Permission to
re
eproduce in print is res
stricted to an abstract of
o not more than 300 words;
w illustrations mayy not be copied. The abbstract must contain co
onspicuous acknowled dgment of SPE copyrig ght.

AAbstract
LLow salinity haas been studied d extensively, but still the mechanisms for improved oil recovery by loowering brine ssalinity are
uunsolved. The target of this paper
p was to address
a oblem and makke systematic studies that caan give insight to the key
this pro
mmechanisms. Given
G the varietty of condition
ns under which h increased reccovery by low salinity brine iinjection may oor may not
bbe observed, itt is likely that more than onee mechanism is contributing to the observeed oil recoveryy. The mechannisms most
cclaimed to bee the reason for improved d oil recovery y are shift inn wettability, multi-componnent ion exchhange, and
ddissolution/finees migration.

IIn this paper, we

w have studiedd low salinity waterflood
w by systematic
s The wettability is changed
chaanging the rockk wettability. T
bby varying agin ng with crude oil at elevated temperature.. We are invesstigating how aging time efffect affects core analysis
pproperties like;; spontaneous imbibition,
i Ammott-Harvey annd USBM wetttability oil andd water indicess. The wettingg properties
wwere also crosss-checked by NMR.
N

TThe detailed co ore analysis iss the backgrou

und for study of oil recoveryy by seawaterr injection andd subsequent loowering of
ssalinity. In add
dition to detectting trends of initial
i wetting and the potenntial for low saalinity, all mecchanisms for loow salinity
rrecovery are discussed. It is expected from m the literaturee that the clayy content in B
Berea cores favvors oil recoveery by low
ssalinity waterfllooding, howev ver the more oil
o wet characteer of the Benthheimer cores inn this study, seems more im mportant for
immproved oil reecovery by low w salinity waterrflood.

Introduction
DDuring the lastt decade, low salinity
s brine in
njection or smart waterfloodiing has been ggiven a great atttention as a nnew tertiary
ooil recovery method.
m The prrimary reported d observationss of low saliniity brine effectt on oil recovvery goes backk to Martin
((1957) and Berrnard (1967), where
w they attriibuted the increeased oil recovvery to improveed microscopicc sweep efficieency due to
mmobilization off clay fines and
d consequent plugging
p of porre throats and iincrease in diffferential pressuure. Three decaades later a
nnew phase of reesearch activitiies initiated to optimize the composition off injected waterr during waterfflooding and thhe its effect
oon oil recovey improvement. The literaturee on low salin nity waterfloodding has increaasingly becom me rich in last few years,
MMorrow and Buckley
B (2011), Jadhunandan n, et al. (1995)), Tang et al. ((1997 , 1999 aand 2002), Yilldiz and Morroow (1996),
MMorrow et al. (1998), Sharm ma and Filico (1998), Roberrtson et al. (20003), Webb ett al. (2004 andd 2005), Mc G Guire et al.
((2005), Zhang and Morrow (2006),
( Lager et al. (2006 anda 2007), Jeraauld et al. (2006), Alotaibi eet al. (2009), A Alagic and
SSkauge (2010),, Ashraf et al. (2010), Austaad et al. (2010)), Yousef, et aal. (2011) and Gamage and T Thyne (2011) are among
nnumerous repo orted studies during
d last 10--15 years. In these studies different posssible mechanissms behind loow salinity
wwaterflooding process
p have been reported bu ut not well undderstood yet.

IIn their study on

o salinity, temmperature and oil compositio on and consequuent effect on ooil recovery, T Tang and Morrrow (1997)
oobserved impro oved oil recov very with modest increase in flow resisttance. In laterr work by Tanng and Morroow (1999),
ccontaining signnificant clay, ex
xistence of connnate water, an nd mixed wet state of rock m material were rreported as thee necessary
cconditions for effectivity
e ow salinity waaterflooding in Berea sandstonnes. They did nnot specificly rreport which tyype of clay
of lo
mmineral maintaains the significcant role in low
w salinity effecct. Later, Jerauuld et al. (20066) suggested thhat increased ooil recovery
wwas directly pro
oportional to thhe kaolinite content in the rocck.
2 SPE 155651

Wettability alteration of clay minerals as a result of multi-ion exchange, double layer expansion, pH increase and its effect on
reduction of interfacial tension and fine migration, has been reported as main contributor to increased oil recovery in low
salinity waterflooding (Ashraf, 2010 and Yousef, 2011).
The reported potential for improved oil recovery with low salinity waterflooding ranging from 2-42% depending on crude oil,
brine and rock type and compositions (Gamage and Thyne, 2011). Lager et al. (2006) reported up to 18% tertiary mode
increase in recovery over high salinity flood during low salinity flooding for 18 reservoir sandstones. Yousef, et al. (2011)
performed a sequential injection of various diluted sea water in carbonate reservoir core plugs. They reported additional oil
recovery of 7-8.5% with twice diluted sea water (~ 29000 ppm) and another additional recovery of 9-10% with 10 times
diluted sea water (~6000 ppm). Some reported results of low salinity waterflooding from field trials are also promising
(Webb et al., 2004 and Mc Guire et al., 2005).

Literature also reports some low salinity waterfloodings with no increased oil recovery. Studies by Gamage and Thyne
(2011) showed 3-4% increased oil recovery in tertiary mode low salinity injection for Berea cores while the incremental
recovery for Minnelusa reservoir core plugs was zero.

The objective of this work was to study the effect of low salinity brine on oil recovery of sandstone core plugs with different
wettability states. Experiments were performed on Berea and Bentheimer outcrop core plugs at room temperature. Although
the literature of low salinity waterflooding contains numerous experimental results on Berea sandstones, but to our
knowledge, it lacks data on low salinity waterflooding in Bentheimer sandstones and hopefully this work will add such a data
to the low salinity injection literature.

EXPERIMENTAL MATERIALS, EQUIPMENTS AND PROCEDURES

Fluid Properties
Synthetic sea water (SSW) used primarily for saturation and establishing connate water purposes in core plugs as well as to
displace oil in wettability and flow experiments. SSW prepared from dissolving of different salts in distilled water such that
the total dissolved solids was about 36000 ppm. Table 1 lists the composition of synthetic sea water used in this study.
Synthetic sea water also was diluted by factor of 10 to prepare low salinity water (Lsal) which was used as a tertiary recovery
fluid after secondary SSW waterflooding.

Table 1. Composition of high salinity water (SSW).

Ion concentration (ppm)

+
Na 11156
2+
Ca 471
2+
Mg 1330
-
Cl 20129
-
HCO3 139
2-
SO4 2743
+
K 350
Total 36318

The initial water saturation (Swi) of core plugs was attained by injection of high viscosity mineral oil called Marcol 152.
After establishing of Swi in all core plugs, Marcol 152 was replaced by another mineral oil, n-decane. This mineral oil was
also used to measure oil permeability of core plugs at initial water saturation.
The North Sea stock tank oil (filtered) used as a crude oil for aging of core plugs and as the oil phase in flow experiments.
The viscosity of this crude oil is in the range of 50-55 cP. Compared to sea water which has a viscosity of only 1 cP, the
mobility ratio is highly unfavorable. In order to achieve a more effective displacement situation both in wettability tests and
flow experiments, the crude oil was diluted by addition of Xylene to reach a favorable viscosity. Table 2 illustrates some
properties of the injection fluids used in this experimental work at 22 °C.
S
SPE 151515 3

T
Table 2. Properrties of fluids used
u in experim
mental work.

Fluuid Viscosityy (cP) Densitty (g/ml)

Diluted Crude
C Oil 2.400 0.88
SSW W 1.077 1.03
Lsaal 1.033 1.00

CCore Plugs
TTwo different rock materialss were selected d in this studyy to perform w wettability and flow experim ments. Outcrop Berea and
BBentheimer corre plugs (6cm in length and 3.75 cm in diaameter) were ccut from wholee cores and plaaced in oven att 70 °C for
aabout 48 hours. The dried corres were then mounted
m indiv
vidually in an EExxon type corre holder, and overburden prressure was
sset to be 20 barrs. Vacuum pum mp was used to evacuate air from core sam mples. When a reasonable vaccuum pressure (<0.5 torr)
eestablished, corre plugs were saturated with h synthetic sea water (SSW) using Quizix pump’s constaant rate deliverry mode at
vvery low flow rate,
r until the pore
p pressure reached
r 5 bars,, then pump’s m mode changedd to constant prressure deliveryy mode for
22-3 hours to en nsure 100% saaturation of co ore with brine. Porosity of thhe cores was ddetermined froom the pump rreading for
innjected brine volume
v into the core plugs ass well as the weight
w differennce of the saturrated and driedd cores. The tw
wo porosity
eestimations werre quite similarr.

AAfter porosity measurement, sea water waas injected into o the cores at 5 different floow rates and ddifferential preessure was
rrecorded acrosss the cores usiing data acquissition system. Core saturatioon and all flow
w experiments were performeed at room
temperature (~ ~ 22 °C). The schematic illu ustration of exxperimental seet up used forr permeabilityy measurementt and flow
eexperiments is shown in Figuure 1.

F
Figure 1. Schem
matic of the expe
erimental setup

AAs it was mentioned before, after

a permeabillity measuremeents at 100% wwater saturationn, the syntheticc sea water was displaced
wwith high visv vosity Marcol-152 to attain initial water saturation
s conddition in core plugs. Then several pore vvolumes of
nn-decane minerral oil in different flowrates was
w injected to displace Marccol-152. Whenn the pressure ddrop across the core plugs
wwas stabilized the
t oil permeaability at Swi was
w measured. From oil perm meability meassurements it waas observed thhat at initial
wwater saturatioon, Berea corees showed oill permeability up to 30% hhigher than abbsolute water permeability, while for
BBentheimer co ores, oil permeeability reduceed up to 25%% compared too absolute perrmeability. Thhis observationn could be
aattributed to fo
ormation of stroong water film
ms through pathhways in Bereea cores whichh enhances the ease of oil floow in these
ppathways. Tablle 3 summarizees the physical properties of the
t individual ccore plugs usedd in this study.
4 S
SPE 155651

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Table 3. Physiccal properties of
o core plugs ussed in experim
mental work.
Ko@swi (md) Ko@swi (m
md)
Rock type Core ID Length (cm) Diameter
D (cm) PV
V(ml) Φ (%PV) K(md) Swi(frac. PV)
before aging after aginng
B1-unaged 5.98 3.69 155.88 24.43 2691.87 0..13 2556.887 -
B2-2-weeks aged 6.04 3.70 166.70 25.72 2247.38 0..10 1876.999 1576.122
B3-unaged 5.97 3.70 166.44 25.68 2378.88 0..13 2157.113 -
Bentheimer

B4-2-weeks aged 5.84 3.70 166.02 25.48 2279.71 0..12 1943.880 1566.900
B8-1-week aged 5.89 3.76 155.85 24.24 2135.60 0..12 1813.443 1553.322
B9-1-week aged 5.87 3.75 155.40 23.75 1878.96 0..09 1743.441 1425.744
B14-B15-unaged 11.75 3.75 300.63 23.63 2252.12 0..10 2108.007 -
S
Sol-4-2-weeks agedd 9.95 3.78 266.79 24.00 1275.43 0..13 965.79 -
2A-S0-unaged 5.82 3.78 122.69 19.55 98.98 0..19 - -
S1-4-weeks aged 6.00 3.70 122.35 19.14 103.86 0..25 128.922 78.69
S2-4-weeks aged 6.23 3.76 133.28 19.19 90.23 0..23 110.86 78.68
Berea

S3-4-weeks aged 6.17 3.73 133.18 19.55 109.17 0..20 133.022 83.68
S4-4-weeks aged 6.17 3.73 122.63 18.73 90.96 0..21 118.43 70.72
S5-1-week aged 6.13 3.71 122.50 18.77 96.96 0..22 111.93 88.12
S8-1-week aged 6.03 3.75 122.10 18.17 75.31 0..21 78.100 65.37

AAging and Weettability Alterration Procedu ure

IIn order to get different wettaability states other
o than stronngly water wett condition, soome of the coree plugs, mounnted in core
hholders, were placed
p in oven at 110 °C for different aging g times. N-deccane was replaaced by crude ooil by injectingg of at least
2 pore volumees of crude oill from both in nlet and oulet of the core pplugs using innline filter. Thhe reason for hhigh aging
temperature waas to enhace th he reaction betwween crude oil components aand core materrial. Once a weeek during the wettability
aalteration perio
od, crude oil in
nside the core plugs
p was dispplaced by freshh crude oil afteer filteration byy inline filter. To control
thhe overburden pressure and avoid
a possible damage to the core plugs du e to pressure inncrease duringg aging period, a cylinder,
ffilled with Marrcol-152 at thee bottom and nitrogen at the top with a ppressure of 200 bars, was connnected to thee confining
ppressure port off the core holder. Figure 2 shhows an image of the cores B22 and B4 placeed in the heat ccabinet for 2-w weeks aging
pperiod. After teerminating the aging processs, several pore volumes of diiluted crude oiil was injected into the core plugs until
t core plugs was stabilized, then oil perm
thhe the pressuree drop across the meability after aaging was meaasured for agedd cores and
ccompared to th he oil permeability before ag ging. The reducction of 15 to 40 percent in oil permeabiliity was observved in aged
ccore plugs whicch could be a primary
p sign off wettability altteration in thesse cores.

F
Figure 2. The co
ores B2 and B4 placed
p in the he
eat cabinet at 11
10 °C for 2-week
ks aging period
d.

WWettability Stuudy
WWettability of aged and unag ged cores was measured usin ng combined A Amott-Harvey//USBM 4-stepp method. In sttep 1, aged
aand unaged corres at initial waater saturation were placed in
ndividually in Amott imbibittion cell filledd with syntheticc sea water
S
SPE 151515 5

((Figure 3). Thee volume of sp

pontaneous imb bibed brine waas recorded as a function of time for aboutt two weeks. W When there
w duction due to brine imbibitiion, the cores were removedd from imbibittion cell and m
was no consideerable oil prod mounted in
EExxon type corre holders whiich are designeed to operate with
w the Beckm man J6B centriifuge. Centrifuuging of the coores started
wwith lower speeeds and the oiil production recorded
r at eacch speed. Centtrifugation conntinued until thhere was no m
more forced
wwater imbibitio
on or when vibrrations forced the
t system to beb stopped (steep 2).

(a) (b)
F
Figure 3. An exa
ample image of spontaneous water
w imbibition in aged (a) and
d unaged (b) corres.

IIn steps 3 and 4 (spontaneous and forced drainage

d processses) the volum me of displacedd water by spoontaneous oil ddrainage as
wwell as forced oil
o drainage was recorded in a similar proccedure used in steps 1 and 2. The Amott-H Harvey wettabillity index (
I AH ) uses the volumes of im
mbibed and disp
placed water duuring steps 1 too 4 as follow:

I AH = I W − I O (1)

ΔSwspw
IW = (2)
ΔSwspw
s + ΔSw fw

ΔSwspd
IO = (3)
ΔSwsppd + ΔSw fd

wwhere I W and d I O are Amo ott water and oil indices, respectively.
r ΔSwspw is thhe change in water saturatiion due to
n, ΔSw fw is ch
sspontaneous waater imbibition hange in water saturation afteer forced water imbibition, ΔSwspd is changge in water
ssaturation due to a finally ΔSw fd is changee in water saturration after forcced oil drainagge.
t spontaneouss oil drainage and
T
The USBM weettability index
x ( I USBM ) requ
uires capillary pressure data from forced w
water imbibitionn and forced ooil drainage
ssteps and is calculated using the
t following formula:
f

A1
I USBM = Lo
og ( ) (4)
A2

Where A1 and A2 are the area under forced oil

W o drainage and
d forced waterr imbibition cappillary pressuree curves, respeectively.

NNMR experimeents were perfformed to stud dy wettability. For each coree plug, NMR scan was perfformed at connnate water
ssaturation and at residual oil saturation. All
A the NMR testst were runn on 12 MHz Maran DRX rock-core anaalyzer from
RResonance Insttruments, withh a gradient probe giving acccess to gradiennt strengths off up to 225 G//cm. The instruument was
6 SPE 155651

running at 35°C and ambient pressure. To avoid any evaporation, all the samples were preheated in dominating saturating
fluid at 35°C prior any test.

Dynamic Core Flooding Experiments

Core plugs used for parallel wettability tests mounted together in a longer core holder and confining pressure of 20 bars was
applied. The aim of these experiments was to examine the effect of different wettability states on oil recovery characteristics
during secondary synthetic sea waterflooding and tertiary low salinity waterflooding. Five displacemet experiments were
performed in this study. Four experiments were run in Bentheimer sandstones in different wettability conditions and one
experiment was performed in Berea sandstone sample at intermediate wettability condition.The experimental set up showed
in Figure 1 was used for displacement experiments without back pressure regulator. All floodings started with 0.1 ml/min and
then flowrate increased to 0.2, 0.5, and 1.0 ml/min to eliminate capillary end effect. In each flowrate water was injected until
no more oil was produced and pressure difference across the cores was stabilized. The differential pressure across the core
plugs was continuously recorded by data gathering system during the flooding experiments.

Results and Discussions

Wettability Study Results
Wettability studies showed that aging of sandstone core plugs with crude oil at elevated temperature changed the wettability
of cores from strongly water wet state to less water wet and/or roughly oil wet conditions depending on the aging time. As it
is presented in Table 4, all 4-weeks aged Berea cores showed wettability change toward neutral wet state. Spontaneous water
imbibition reduced considerably compared to unaged and 1-week aged cores (Figure 4) and the area under secondary
drainage curve was increased (Figure 6).

The similar effect was observed for Bentheimer sandstones (Figures 5 and 7). Unaged Bentheimer cores, B1 and B3, showed
Amott index of 0.98 and 0.94, respectively, which is the indication of strongly water wet condition. Aging the cores at
elevated temperature resulted in lowering of wettability indices for 1-week aged Cores B8 and B9 to 0.60 and 0.69,
respectively.

The wettability change for 2-weeks aged Bentheimer cores B2 and B4 was quite considerable and the wettability condition
for these cores changed to oil wet state. The USBM indices were also consistant with Amott indices and confirmed
wettability change as a result of aging for both sandstones (Figure 8). The USBM index was higher than the Amott-Harvey
index and such results indicate a mixed wet large type of wettability, Skauge et al, 2007.

As it is presented by Figure 7 for Bentheimer cores, as water wet condition in core plugs alterd towards more oil wet
condition (e.g. core B2), residual oil saturation decreased after forced water imbibition (Sor for well aged Bentheimer cores
B2 and B4 after forced water imbibition reach 0.08) while the trapped or irreducible water saturation during secondary
drainage process increased (for cores B2 and B3 the irreducible water saturation increased to 0.25). Therefore the secondary
drainage curve did not make a closed loop.The similar effect was reported by Masalmeh (2001). This effect may be attributed
to snap-off events exist in more oil wet systems where oil flows in films and snap-off event occurs in pore throats and
therefore results in trapping of water droplets in pore bulk area. In all aged Berea cores so called closed loop was observed at
neutral wettability condition (Figure 6).

The wetting properties were cross-checked by NMR, but no shift in T2 was observed. The results of NMR measurements did
not indicate any alteration in wettability as a function of aging.
S
SPE 151515 7

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Table 4. Water saturation chaange and wettab
bility indices during
d wettabiliity experimentts.

ΔSw ΔSw ΔSSw ΔSw

Rock type C ID
Core Swi(ffrac. PV) IAH IUSBM
(spont. Water
W imbibition) (forced Water imbibition) (spont. oil drainage) (forcced oil drainage)
B11-unaged 00.13 0.52 0.01 0.000 - 0.98 -
B2-2--weeks aged 0
0.10 0.01 0.81 0.447 0.18 -0.71 -0.40
B e n th e im e r

B33-unaged 0
0.13 0.50 0.03 0.000 0.51 0.94 1.68
B4-2--weeks aged 0
0.12 0.01 0.79 0.224 0.37 -0.39 0.09
B8-1-week aged 0
0.12 0.35 0.24 0.000 0.62 0.60 1.47
B9-1-week aged 0
0.09 0.42 0.19 0.000 0.61 0.69 1.49
2A-SS0-unaged 0
0.97 0.39 0.03 0.000 0.38 0.91 1.05
S1-4--weeks aged 0
0.25 0.05 0.58 0.006 0.58 -0.02 0.26
S2-4--weeks aged 0
0.23 0.06 0.50 0.002 0.54 0.06 0.78
B e re a

S3-4--weeks aged 0
0.20 0.06 0.52 0.005 0.52 0.01 0.12
S4-4--weeks aged 0
0.21 0.11 0.46 0.004 0.53 0.13 0.21
S5-1-week aged 0
0.22 0.10 - - - - -
S8-1-week aged 0
0.21 0.14 - - - - -

F
Figure 4. Oil recovery by spontaneous water im
mbibition in age
ed and unaged B
Berea cores.
8 S
SPE 155651

F
Figure 5. Oil recovery by spontaneous water im
mbibition in age
ed and unaged B
Bentheimer corres.

F
Figure 6. Capilla
ary pressure currves for aged an
nd unaged Bere
ea cores.
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SPE 151515 9

F
Figure 7. Capilla
ary pressure currves for aged an
nd unaged Benttheimer cores.

F p for Berea and Bentheimer cores.

Figure 8. USBM--Amott/Harvey plot

DDynamic Coree Flooding Ressults

TThe main resullts from core fllooding experim mposite cores o f different wetttability states are presented in Table 5.
ments for com
AAlso the produ
uction profile during
d w salinity brinee injection forr these cores is shown in Figure 9. As
synthettic sea and low
FFigure 9 showss, early water breakthrough,
b low oil recoverry at breakthrouugh and two-pphase productioon of oil and wwater in less
wwater wet cores was observed d. In water wet cores consideerably late watter breakthrouggh, higher oil rrecovery at breeakthrough
aand almost no tail
t production was recorded. This behaviorr also confirmss the wettabilityy change durinng aging with ccrude oil.
10 S
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Table 5. Summ
mary of flow experiments.

PV Soi Breakthroough RF RF(WF) Sor(WF) RF(Lsal) Sor(Lsal) Final RF

Rock type Coree ID Ko((Sorw) K
Krow(Lsal)
(ml) (frrac. PV) (%OOOIP) (%OOIP)) (frac. PV) (%OOIP) (frac. PV) (%OOIP)
B2-BB4 32.72 0.66 25.556 63.52 0.24 0
0.36 1.85 0.23 0.40 65.37
B e n th e im e r

B8-BB9 31.25 0.87 41.001 51.71 0.42 0

0.19 0.00 0.42 0.20 51.71
B14-BB15 30.63 0.90 54.778 56.61 0.39 0
0.14 0.00 0.39 0.14 56.61
Sol--4 26.79 0.87 49.887 69.58 0.27 0
0.25 1.71 0.25 0.24 71.29
Berea S3-SS4 25.80 0.79 45.224 64.38 0.28 0
0.33 0.36 0.28 0.37 64.74

FFigure 10 illusstrates the oil recovery,

r diffeerential pressurre across the ccore and injecction rate profiile for unaged composite
BBentheimer corre B14-B15. Recovery
R factorr from secondaary waterfloodding with SSW W brine reachedd to 56.6% of O OOIP after
115 pore volumees of water injjection. Since the t cores weree high permeabble Bentheime sandstone, theerefore the preessure drop
wwas low. The composite
c coree showed stron ngly water weet condition wiith late breakthhrough and alm most no produuction after
thhat. No consid
derable change in production was w observed during
d flow ratte increase.
TTo assess the effect
e njection on resiidual oil reducttion, the 10 tim
of low saalinity brine inj mes diluted SSSW with salinitty of about
33600 ppm wass injected in a manner similaar to SSW injection. No moore oil producttion was obserrved after aboout 16 pore
vvolumes of Lsaal injection.

F
Figure 9. Oil pro
oduction profile during synthetic sea and low salinity
s brine in
njection in comp
psite cores of different wettabillity states.
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SPE 151515 11

F
Figure 10. Oil recovery, differen
ntial pressure and injection rate
e variation duri ng synthetic se
ea and low salin
nity water injection into
u
unaged compos site Bentheimer core B14-B15.

TThe second floow experiment was performed with compossite Bentheimeer core B8-B9 (Figure 11). T The average Amott index
w 0.65 which showed somee shift from strrongly water w
ffor this core was wet condition. The tail produuction after rouughly early
bbreakthrough (ccompared to un
naged B14-B15) was observeed and the recoovery factor reeached to 51.7%% of OOIP afteer about 22
innjected pore volumes.
v The recovery facto or did not chaange during loow salinity injeection which llasted for abouut 16 pore
vvolumes. The presuure
p drop across
a the core was constant and
a roughly low wer than presssure drop in SS
SW injection peeriod.

F
Figure 11. Oil recovery, differen
ntial pressure and injection rate
e variation duri ng synthetic se
ea and low salin
nity water injection into
1
1-week aged com mposite Benthe eimer core B8-BB9.
12 S
SPE 155651

F
Figure 12. Oil recovery, differen
ntial pressure and injection rate
e variation duri ng synthetic se
ea and low salin
nity water injection into 2-
w
weeks aged com mposite Bentheiimer core B2-B4 4.

TThe next wateerflooding experiment was performed

p witth 2-weeks agged composite Bentheimer ccore B2-B4 (F Figure 12).
WWettability inddices for this core showed more m oil wet condition.Thee lower initial oil saturationn for this coree is due to
sseconday drainnage process which did not makem a closed loop as discusssed before. Connsiderably earlly breakthrouggh and long
n were notablee observations in this experriment. The cuumulative production increaased with incrreasing the
taail production
fflowrate. The trraditional oil reecovery by SSW flooding waas about 63.5% % of OOIP. Thee tertiary modee injection of loow salinity
wwater started an
nd gave no mo ore oil production in lower injjection rates. H
However some late productioon observed durring higher
innjection rate (1ml/min).
( Thee total recoverry factor afte Lsal floodingg reached to ababout 65.5% of OOIP (increemental oil
rrecovery of 1.85% OOIP).

SSince the initiaal oil saturation

n for compositte core B2-B4 was lower com mpared to otheer cores, thereffore a 10-cm B
Bentheimer
ccore ( Sol-4, physical
p properrties are in Tab
ble 3) was ageed for 2 weekss and similar ddisplacement eexperiment werre repeated
wwith new core.. The productio on profile (Fig
gure 13) was more
m or less siimilar to compposite core B2-B4 except breeakthrough
wwhich happened later. The inccremental increease in recoverry facror with llow salinity briine was 1.7% oof OOIP.

TTo examine th he effect of lo ow salinity waterflooding

w n Berea sandsstone, a singlle experiment was performeed using a
in
ccomposite coree with neutral wettability
w con ndition (Figuree 14). Early waater breakthrouugh and low ooil recovery at this point,
aand considerabbly long tail prroduction obserrved for this core.
c The low ssalinity water injection perfoormed after reggular SSW
fflooding but no
o significant inccrease in oil reecovery was achhieved (about 0.4% of OOIP P).

DDuring the floo

oding experimeents no fine prooduction was observed
o in thee effluents. Diffferential presssure for both hiigh salinity
aand low salinitty waterfloodin
ngs was roughlly similar and pH change waas not significcant. X-Ray Diiffraction (XRD D) showed
ssmall amount ofo clay contentt 3.2wt% (Illitte+Mica) with no Kaolinite mminerals in Beentheimer corees. Berea coress contained
aabout 8 wt% clays with the major
m contributiion coming from Kaolinite.
S
SPE 151515 13

F
Figure 13. Oil recovery, differen
ntial pressure and injection rate
e variation duri ng synthetic se
ea and low salin
nity water injection into 2-
w
weeks aged Ben ntheimer core Sol-4.

Figure 14. Oil recovery, differen

F ntial pressure and injection rate
e variation duri ng synthetic se nity water injection into 4-
ea and low salin
w
weeks aged Berrea core S3-S4.

C
Conclusions
L
Low salinity waterflooding ex
xperiments sho
owed no increaased oil recoverry in strongly w
water wet Benttheimer cores.

DDifferent wettaability states were

w establish
hed in Berea and
a Bentheim mer sandstones by aging with crude oil aat elevated
temperature. Combined Amott/Harvey-USB med change in wettability
BM studies as well as waterfflooding experiiments confirm
ffrom strongly water
w wet conddition towards less water wet and more oill wet conditionns. The USBM M index is highher than the
AAmott-Harvey index and such h results indicaate a mixed wet large type off wettability.

LLow salinity flo

ooding in agedd cores showed mited increased oil recovery, rranged from 0..4%, in neutrall wet Berea
d only very lim
ccores and up to
o 2% of OOIP in weakly oil wet Bentheim mer cores. No ffine productionn, pH increase or pressure inncrease was
oobserved in anyy of the experim
ments.

TThe Berea corees have much higher clay co ontent compared to Bentheim mer, but Bereaa is less oil wet than Bentheeimer. It is
hat the clay content in Berea cores favors ooil recovery byy low salinity, hhowever the m
eexpected from the literature th more oil wet
ccharacter of thee Bentheimer seems more imp portant for imp
proved oil recoovery by low saalinity waterfloood.
14 SPE 155651

Nomenclature

A1 Positive area under the forced (secondary) drainage curve

A2 Negative area above the forced imbibition curve
I AH Amott/Harvey wettability index
IO Amott/Harvey wettability index to oil
I USBM USBM wettability index
IW Amott/Harvey wettability index to water
K Absolute permeability to brine (md)
KO Oil permeability at initial water saturation (md)
K rw Water relative permeability
Lsal Low salinity brine
OOIP Original oil in place
ppm Parts per million
PV Pore volume
RF Recovery factor
S oi Initial oil saturation
Sor Residual oil saturation
S orw Residual oil saturation after waterflooding
SSW Synthetic sea water
Sw Water saturation
S wfw Water saturation after forced water imbibition
S wfd Water saturation after forced drainage
S wi Initial water saturation
S wspd Water saturation after spontaneous drainage
S spw Water saturation after spontaneous water imbibition
USBM United States Bureau of Mines
φ Porosity (% of pore volume)

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge financial support from the Norwegian Research Council. Master student, Solveig
Riisøen, is also acknowledged for her contribution in this work.

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