Application of foam flooding for residual oil production in granitoid cores from the “X” oil field in Kazakhstan
Longinos S.N. Verendeyev S. Begaliyev D. Hazlett R.
February 2026Elsevier B.V.
Geoenergy Science and Engineering
2026#257
Foam has been recognized as a diverting agent that enhances sweep efficiency. Foam flooding is also speculated to improve microscopic displacement efficiency in the reservoir core by the same mechanism. Incremental recovery of remaining oil in “X” oilfield core following sequential waterflooding and immiscible gas flooding is investigated using foam with both N2 and CO2. Limited laboratory tests on “X” oilfield core indicated excellent enhanced oil recovery (EOR) potential by foam processes, with and without the inclusion of nanoparticles. The recovery process sequence was repeated with Berea and Indiana limestone for comparison. The baseline analyses for gas flooding across all lithologies indicated that immiscible CO2 flooding is more efficient than N2 flooding, presumably due to increased interaction mechanisms for CO2 with both water and oil. Without the incorporation of nanoparticles, N2 foam flooding was superior to CO2 foam, as seen from the average enhanced recovery of 8.15 % of Original Oil in Place (OOIP) for the “X” core samples using N2 foam compared to 2.45 % with CO2 foam. The superior performance of N2 foam was consistent also with Berea and Indiana limestone tests. Additionally, the introduction of nanoparticles to the foam system further improved recovery, with an average increase of 5.05 % in the recovery factor. However, the greater apparent viscosity of the N2 foam with nanoparticles (around 9 cP) is undesirable, since it might impair injectivity and interwell mobility despite significant recovery efficiency improvement. Overall, the study results show that foam flooding is a promising option for sweep efficiency improvement in “X” oilfield core.
Enhanced oil recovery , Foam flooding , Kazakhstan , Recovery factor
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School of Mining and Geosciences, Department of Petroleum Engineering, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan
Industrial and Technological Institute, Zhangir Khan University, Uralsk, Kazakhstan
School of Mining and Geosciences
Industrial and Technological Institute
10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель
Книга Публикация научной статьи Волощук 2026 Book Publication of a scientific article 2026