Method and composition for enhanced oil recovery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9284481-B2
Application number	US-201113578312-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 9, 2011
Priority date	Feb 12, 2010
Publication date	Mar 15, 2016
Grant date	Mar 15, 2016

Abstract

A method is provided for treating a hydrocarbon containing formation. The method comprises providing a hydrocarbon recovery composition comprising a mixture of branched internal olefin sulfonate molecules, and contacting hydrocarbons in the hydrocarbon containing formation with the hydrocarbon recovery composition. The mixture of branched internal olefin sulfonate molecules has an average number of carbon atoms of between 19 and 23, and an average number of branches of at least 0.6 per molecule. A hydrocarbon composition produced from a hydrocarbon containing formation, and a hydrocarbon recovery composition comprising a mixture of branched internal olefin sulfonate molecules are also provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of treating a hydrocarbon containing formation, comprising:
providing a hydrocarbon recovery composition comprising a mixture of branched internal olefin sulfonate molecules, the mixture having an average number of carbon atoms of between 19 and 23, and an average number of branches of at least 0.6 per molecule, wherein at least 50% of the branched internal olefin sulfonate molecules have between 19 and 23 carbon atoms and the branched internal olefin sulfonate molecules are made by sulfonation of internal olefin molecules having odd and even numbers of carbon atoms; and
contacting hydrocarbons in the hydrocarbon containing formation with the hydrocarbon recovery composition.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mixture of branched internal olefin sulfonate molecules has an average number of carbon atoms of between 20 and 23.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mixture of branched internal olefin sulfonate molecules has an average number of carbon atoms of between 21 and 22.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least 65% of the branched internal olefin sulfonate molecules have between 19 and 23 carbon atoms.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the average molecular weight of the mixture of branched internal olefin sulfonate molecules is from 265 to 325.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the average molecular weight of the mixture of branched internal olefin sulfonate molecules is from 280 to 310.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the average molecular weight of the mixture of branched internal olefin sulfonate molecules is from 290 to 300.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the average number of branches per olefin molecule is from 0.6 to 3.0.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the average number of branches per olefin molecule is from 0.6 to 2.0.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the average number of branches per olefin molecule is from 0.6 to 1.2.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least 60% of the olefin molecules contain at least one branch.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the average number of sulfonate groups per olefin molecule is from 0.7 to 2.5.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the average number of sulfonate groups per olefin molecule is less than 1.0.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the hydrocarbon recovery composition has a salinity of from 2.5 wt % to 4.5 wt %.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the average number of sulfonate groups per olefin molecule is at least 1.3.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the hydrocarbon recovery composition has a salinity of from 4.5 wt % to 8 wt %.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mixture of branched internal olefin molecules comprises: at least 50% hydroxyalkane sulfonate molecules; up to 40% alkene sulfonate molecules; and up to 10% di-sulfonate molecules.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mixture of branched internal olefin molecules comprises: from 50% to 90% hydroxyalkane sulfonate molecules; from 10% to 40% alkene sulfonate molecules; and from 0% to 10% di-sulfonate molecules.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mixture of branched internal olefin molecules comprises: from 56% to 64% hydroxyalkane sulfonate molecules; from 32% to 37% alkene sulfonate molecules; and from 4% to 7% di-sulfonate molecules, provided that the total adds up to 100%.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrocarbon recovery composition further comprises water and/or brine and has a salinity of from 2.5 wt % to 10 wt %.

21. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrocarbon recovery composition further comprises water and/or brine and has a salinity of from 3.0 wt % to 7 wt %.

22. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrocarbon recovery composition further comprises water and/or brine and has a salinity of from 3.5 wt % to 6.6 wt %.

23. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrocarbon recovery composition further comprises water and/or brine and wherein the mixture of branched internal olefin sulfonate molecules comprises from 0.01 wt % to 3.0 wt % of the composition.

24. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrocarbon recovery composition further comprises water and/or brine and wherein the mixture of branched internal olefin sulfonate molecules comprises from 0.05 wt % to 2.0 wt % of the composition.

25. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrocarbon recovery composition further comprises water and/or brine and wherein the mixture of branched internal olefin sulfonate molecules comprises from 0.1 wt % to 1.0 wt % of the composition.

26. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrocarbon recovery composition further comprises a solubilising agent.

27. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrocarbon recovery composition further comprises a co-solvent.

28. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrocarbon recovery composition further comprises an alkali.

29. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrocarbon recovery composition further comprises a polymer.

Assignees

• Barnes Julian Richard
• Dirkzwager Hendrik
• On Quoc An
• Smit Johan Paul
• Smit Jasper Roelf
• Shell Oil Co

Inventors

• Barnes Julian Richard
• Dirkzwager Hendrik
• On Quoc An
• Smit Johan Paul
• Smit Jasper Roelf

Classifications

• C09K8/584 Primary

  characterised by the use of specific surfactants · CPC title