Chemical flood enhanced oil recovery: a review

Chemical flooding has been found to be one of the major EOR techniques especially for reservoirs where thermal methods are not feasible. The application of chemical flooding is strongly influenced by the current economics, type of reserve oil and crude oil price. In this paper, an up to date status of chemical flooding at the laboratory scale, pilot projects and field applications have been reported. The basic mechanisms of different chemical methods have been discussed including the interactions of different chemicals with the reservoir rocks and fluids. The average recovery of oil after the conventional water flooding is highly encouraging particularly when the demand and price of crude oil is increasing day by day.