Inorganic NanoParticle for Enhanced Polymer Injection in High-Salinity: High-Temperature Omani Reservoirs

Polymer Injection is one of the most established techniques for enhancing the recovery of high viscous oil. However, the performance of the polymers such as the widely used acrylamide products is significantly hampered by the high salinity and high temperature (HSHT) conditions in unconventional reservoirs such as the ones in some Omani fields. The use of nanoparticles for EOR has only recently become a viable alternative method for increasing the effectiveness of polymers in oil recovery. Different nanoparticles can be used to tailor the characteristics of injected fluids as well as the fluid-rock interaction properties and numerous studies have demonstrated that adding certain nanoparticles to a polymer solution can improve oil recovery. Hence, this research proposal seeks to advance the polymer flooding efficiency under harsh conditions of High-Salinity and High-Temperature on two fronts; engineering polymers with enhanced salinity and temperature tolerance and; utilising suitable nanoparticles to improve the polymer?s resistance to high temperature and salinity. Three distinct polymer solutions?copolymer/terpolymer by free radical polymerization; amphiphilic polymer; and hyrophobically associating polymer inverse suspension polymerization?will be made and hybridised with nanoparticles. Chemical and physical characterisation will be carried out to establish any structural changes in the polymer chain skeleton, followed by the rheological test to observe any improvement in the salt and temperature tolerance of the polymer-nanoparticle hybrid. Wettability studies will then be conducted for any rock-fluid interaction and finally coreflood experiments to determine the performance of the hybridised polymer under HSHT.