Method for recovering oil

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9518211-B2
Application number	US-201414760623-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 15, 2014
Priority date	Jan 25, 2013
Publication date	Dec 13, 2016
Grant date	Dec 13, 2016

Abstract

The present invention relates to a process for recovering oil from a subterranean formation by injecting both solid particles and water into the formation. An oil-in-water emulsion that is stabilized by solid particles is formed in the pores of the formation. This emulsion is recovered from the subterranean formation.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process for recovering oil from a subterranean oil-containing formation comprising at least the steps of:
a) introducing solid particles and water into the subterranean oil-containing formation to obtain a solid particles-stabilized emulsion containing droplets, whereby water is the continuous phase and oil is the dispersed phase, and
b) recovering said solid particles-stabilized emulsion from the subterranean oil-containing formation,
wherein the solid particles comprise at least one layered double hydroxide of general formula (I)
[M II (1-x) M III x (OH) 2 ] x+ [A n− ] x/n .y H 2 O  (I),

wherein
M II denotes a divalent metal ion or 2Li,
M III denotes a trivalent metal ion,
A n− denotes an n-valent anion,
n is 1 or 2,
x is the mole fraction having a value ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 and
y is a value ranging from 0 to 5.0;
wherein the solid-particles stabilized emulsion has a viscosity at 20° C. in the range of 5 to 30 mPa·s at a temperature of 20° C. under shear rate of 10/s.

2. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the solid particles have an average particle size in the range of 30 nm to 10 μm.

3. The process according to claim 1 , wherein that the droplets have an average droplet size Dv 50 in the range of 1 to 40 μm.

4. The process according to claim 1 , wherein that the droplets have an average droplet size Dv 90 in the range of 10 to 30 μm.

5. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the subterranean oil-containing formation has pores and the solid particles-stabilized emulsion is obtained by transporting the solid particles and water through these pores.

6. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the solid particles are hydrophilic.

7. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the solid particles-stabilized emulsion comprises 10 to 90% by weight water, 10 to 90% by weight oil and 0.1 to 10% by weight of at least one layered double hydroxide of general formula (I), related to the overall weight of the emulsion.

8. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the oil is crude oil.

9. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the oil is crude oil having a viscosity in the range of 1 to 5000 mPa·s at a temperature of 20° C.

10. The process according to claim 1 , wherein
the divalent metal ion is Ca, Mg, Fe, Ni, Zn, Co, Cu or Mn,
the trivalent metal ion is Al, Fe, Cr or Mn,
the n-valent anion is Cl − , Br − , NO 3 − , CO 3 2− , SO 4 2− or SeO 4 2− ,
x is the mole fraction having a value ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 and
y is a value ranging from 0 to 5.0.

11. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the solid particles-stabilized emulsion has a conductivity in the range of 50 to 190 mS/cm.

12. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the aspect ratio of the solid particles is in the range of 1 to 30.

13. The process according to claim 1 , wherein upon introduction of the solid particles and water into the subterranean oil-containing formation, the solid particles and water transport into pores of the subterranean oil-containing formation to obtain the solid particles-stabilized emulsion, wherein:
the solid particles-stabilized emulsion does not form a flow barrier for diverting flow of hydrocarbons in a subterranean formation;
the solid particles-stabilized emulsion does not form effective horizontal barriers to vertical flow of gas or water to reduce coning of the gas or water to the oil producing zone of a well; and
the solid particles-stabilized emulsion does not fill high permeability formation zones for profile modification applications to improve subsequent waterflood performance.

Assignees

• Wintershall Holding GmbH
• Basf Se

Inventors

• Kimura Riichiro
• Maurer Stefan
• Parvulescu Andrei-Nicolae
• Siggel Lorenz
• Müller Ulrich
• Frechen Thomas
• Hinrichsen Bernd

Classifications

• C09K8/265

  containing inorganic additives · CPC title

• E21B43/16

  Enhanced recovery methods for obtaining hydrocarbons · CPC title

• C09K8/58 Primary

  Compositions for enhanced recovery methods for obtaining hydrocarbons, i.e. for improving the mobility of the oil, e.g. displacing fluids · CPC title