Abstract:
Waterflooding is one of the earliest methods used successfully for recovery of oil from petroleum reservoirs. The ‘Smart Water’ injection is based on experimental observations that variation of injected water salinity and of its ion balance may result in additional oil recovery. Two characteristic examples are: high salinity waterflooding (with potentially important ions Ca 2+, Mg 2+ and SO4 2- ) in high temperature chalk reservoirs, and low salinity water flooding in sandstone reservoirs. Its application is oriented for Danish oil reservoirs. One approach for designing the proper Smart Water injection strategy is given by core flooding experiments at reservoir conditions which is a challenging issue due to high temperature and pressure. Experimental challenges and apparatus improvements are presented along with initial experimental data.