New Insights into Enhanced Oil Recovery Process Analysis and Application, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 December 2025 | Viewed by 696

Special Issue Editors

College of Energy and Mining Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266590, China
Interests: enhanced oil recovery; chemical flooding; multiphase flow in porous media; intelligent oil production optimization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
Interests: enhanced oil recovery; thermal oil recovery method; cold production method for heavy oil reservoir
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Various enhanced oil recovery methods have been widely used to improve reservoir development performance. Chemical flooding methods effectively enhance the oil recovery of heterogeneous oil reservoirs. Thermal oil recovery methods have been successfully applied in heavy oil reservoirs. Considering the extensive depletion of easily accessible resources and environmental concerns, researchers and engineers must provide new insights into enhanced oil recovery methods for developing oil reservoirs operating in harsh conditions. In recent years, a promising chemical method that introduces viscoelastic soft solid particles into a polymer/surfactant solution was used successfully in a pilot test at the Shengli Oilfield in China. This new insight breaks the tradition of only using homogeneous liquid or gas phases when displacing fluid in petroleum engineering. Another example is the chemical cold production method for harsh heavy oil reservoirs, where traditional thermal methods show poor performance because of the high humidity of steam and poorly developed steam cavities, leading to serious heat loss and negative environmental impacts. In fact, the revolution in enhanced oil recovery methods is just beginning, and more efforts are needed from researchers worldwide.

This Special Issue on “New Insights into Enhanced Oil Recovery Process Analysis and Application” aims to gather and promote information on the development and application of enhanced oil recovery methods to improve oil development performance in harsh reservoirs. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Chemical flooding methods;
  • Thermal oil recovery methods;
  • Cold production methods for heavy oil reservoirs;
  • Multiphase seepage flow in enhanced oil recovery;
  • Intelligent oil production optimization.

The 1st Edition of this Special Issue published 12 papers: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/processes/special_issues/8MNVP8IB18

Dr. Kang Zhou
Dr. Qingjun Du
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • enhanced oil recovery
  • chemical flooding
  • thermal oil recovery
  • cold production
  • multiphase seepage flow
  • intelligent oil production optimization

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 3650 KiB  
Article
Research on the Damage Mechanism of Oilfield Water Injection System Based on Multiple Operating Conditions
by Chuanjiang Tan, Yan Fang, Fumin Li, Zeliang Chang, Yongbin Hou, Shuai Wang and Yang Du
Processes 2025, 13(6), 1798; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13061798 - 5 Jun 2025
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Abstract
Petroleum is an indispensable energy source in modern industrial society, and maintaining the safe and stable operation of its injection and production system is of great significance. To analyze the mechanism of pipeline damage caused by corrosion and scaling in the injection production [...] Read more.
Petroleum is an indispensable energy source in modern industrial society, and maintaining the safe and stable operation of its injection and production system is of great significance. To analyze the mechanism of pipeline damage caused by corrosion and scaling in the injection production system, taking a water injection pipeline in an oil field as an example, the causes of corrosion and scaling damage were studied by detecting pipeline samples and analyzing corrosion products and various service conditions of the pipeline. The results showed that there was more scaling on the inner wall of the pipeline, and there was local corrosion in the pipeline sections that had experienced water injection, shutdown, and gas injection conditions, while there was no significant corrosion thinning in the pipeline sections that had only experienced water injection and shutdown conditions. The scale layer formed under water injection conditions is mainly composed of barium strontium sulfate (Ba0.75Sr0.25SO4), barium sulfate (BaSO4) and a small amount of silica (SiO2). The main reason for scale formation is the high content of barium ions (Ba2+) in the injected water. The corrosion products formed under gas injection conditions, including strontium ions (Sr2+) and sulfate ions (SO42−), are mainly composed of ferrous carbonate (FeCO3) and ferric oxide (Fe2O3). The pipeline corrosion product FeCO3 is mainly caused by carbon dioxide (CO2) in the medium. In addition, the high liquid content, cecal position, high Cl (chloride ion) content, and slightly acidic environment in the pipeline also accelerate the occurrence of corrosion damage. The Fe2O3 in the corrosion products is formed when the pipeline is exposed to air after sampling, and is not the main cause of pipeline corrosion. Full article
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36 pages, 28595 KiB  
Article
Study of the Macro-Mesoscopic Shear Anisotropic Mechanical Behavior of Reservoir Shale
by Zifang Zhu, Bowen Zheng, Shengwen Qi, Songfeng Guo, Guangming Luo, Tao Wang and Jianrui Jiao
Processes 2025, 13(5), 1404; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13051404 - 4 May 2025
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Abstract
Shear failure is pivotal in fracture evolution and stimulated reservoir volume (SRV) during hydraulic fracturing, particularly in bedded shale formations. However, the limited availability of coupled macro- and mesoscale experimental data on the shear behavior of reservoir shale constrains a comprehensive understanding of [...] Read more.
Shear failure is pivotal in fracture evolution and stimulated reservoir volume (SRV) during hydraulic fracturing, particularly in bedded shale formations. However, the limited availability of coupled macro- and mesoscale experimental data on the shear behavior of reservoir shale constrains a comprehensive understanding of its anisotropic shear mechanical properties across scales. This study systematically investigates shear anisotropy at both macro- and mesoscales in shale with varying bedding orientations under different normal stress conditions. The key findings are summarized as follows: (1) At lower normal stresses, the anisotropy of peak shear strength was more pronounced, whereas the anisotropy of residual shear strength was relatively weak. As the normal stress increased, the anisotropic effects of bedding on peak and residual shear strengths exhibited opposite trends. The former exhibited a fluctuating decline, whereas the latter showed a progressive increase. (2) The internal friction angle of shale bedding planes was higher than that of the matrix, whereas cohesion exhibited the opposite trend. The internal friction angle corresponding to the peak shear strength reached its maximum at a bedding angle of 45°, while cohesion peaked at a bedding angle of 60°. (3) At lower normal stresses, the cumulative acoustic emission (AE) ringing count curves for shale shear failure followed an “S”-shaped pattern for bedded and matrix shear, differing from the piecewise linear pattern observed in bedded-matrix coupled shear. As the normal stress increased, the bedding-induced effects on macro- and mesoscale shear behavior evolved from non-uniformity to uniformity, reflecting a transition of anisotropy from uncoordinated to coordinated characteristics. Full article
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