Applicability of air flooding to low-permeability thin oil reservoirs

As more and more reserves are discovered in low-permeability thin oil reservoirs year by year, air flooding (or oil displacement by air injection) has attracted growing attentions. However, this technique is not applicable to all low-permeability reservoirs. In order to ensure that the air flooding technique can be more effectively used for low-permeability thin oil reservoirs, field tests on high-pressure air injection, air-foam flooding, and thin oil ignition by air injection in some oilfields in China and abroad were investigated. On this basis, experience in air flooding for low-permeability thin oil reservoirs and reservoir parameters were collected, and comparative analyses were made on the applicability of air flooding with different injection modes to low-permeability thin oil reservoirs and the potential of air flooding for the low-permeability Changqing Oilfield. Finally, a development program by using air flooding with different injection modes was proposed for low-permeability thin oil reservoirs with different parameters. This program can serve as reference and basis for the future development of low-permeability thin oil reservoirs.