Heavy oil recovery by polymer flooding and hot water injection using numerical simulation

Thermal and chemical flooding are good alternatives to recover heavy oil. Hot water injection decreases oil viscosity but the unfavorable mobility ratio results in an inefficient sweep. Polymer flooding increases sweep efficiency due to higher water viscosity but may have lower injectivity. Combining both these techniques can improve recovery; hot water improves polymer injectivity and the higher viscosity of polymer improves the mobility ratio. However, polymer thermal degradation, a result of combining these two techniques, decreases oil recovery and must be considered as it affects polymer efficiency. In this work we analyze the impact of different injection temperatures of combined polymer and hot water flooding on both production and economic indicators, using numerical simulations. Using reliable polymer viscosity and degradation modeling linked to temperature, we aim to find the best injection temperature between 25 and 200°C.