Critical Review of Polymer Flooding in Daqing Field and Pelican Field: Case Studies of the World’s Largest Polymer Flooding in Light and Heavy Oil Reservoirs, Respectively

Abstract

Aim: Polymer flooding is a promising chemical enhanced oil recovery. Originally it was thought that polymer flooding was not economical. The polymer flooding in Daqing field China has proved otherwise. After that, it was thought that polymer flooding could only be successful in light oil reservoirs, but then polymer flooding was implemented in Pelican field in Canada on a large scale and recorded success. Methodology: The methodology employed was to review polymer flooding from inception, beginning from the work of Kingsley Detling in 1944 who got a patent in the USA to late 1970’s, thus early history of polymer flooding was a good insight for this paper. The mechanism of polymer flooding was also captured; improving the mobility ratio of water with a water soluble polymer is what helps for better sweep efficiency. The successful polymer flooding in Daqing field China has made many companies to understand this technology and go for polymer flooding. Polymer flooding of Daqing field has helped China’s oil and gas industry. Polymer flooding is now used to recover heavy oil especially for deep reservoirs with thin pay zone. Pelican field in Canada has carried out the largest polymer flooding implementation in the world and has proven that polymer flooding can be used for heavy oil and given a new screening parameter for polymer flooding.  Results: This review has captured the critical aspects of polymer flooding both in light oil reservoirs-Daqing field, China and heavy oil reservoirs-Pelican field, Canada. Conclusion: This review has proven that polymer flooding is a promising Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery technology in both light oil and heavy oil reservoirs and it is used to increase the ultimate recovery of some fields and could help any country to remain relevant in the oil and gas sector. Using polymer flooding to recover heavy oil proves more efficient and  more economical. Because, polymer flooding does not require a lot of heat as in thermal flooding, there is reduction in global green house gas effect. Recommendation: It is recommended that companies use polymer flooding to recover their oil from light oil reservoirs and most importantly increase production and recovery in heavy oil fields.