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     Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology


Comprehensive Review of Foam Application during Foam Assisted Water Alternating Gas (FAWAG) Method

A. Shabib-asl, M.A. Ayoub, A.F. Alta'ee, I. Bin Mohd Saaid and P. Paulo Jose Valentim
Department of Petroleum Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP), Bandar Seri Iskanadar, 31750 Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia
Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology  2014  17:1896-1904
http://dx.doi.org/10.19026/rjaset.8.1179  |  © The Author(s) 2014
Received: August ‎01, ‎2014  |  Accepted: September ‎13, ‎2014  |  Published: November 05, 2014

Abstract

In the last few decades, much focus has been placed on enhancing oil recovery from existing fields. This is accomplished by the study and application of various methods. As for recent cases, the Study of fluid mobility control and sweep efficiency in gas injection process as well as Water Alternating Gas (WAG) method have demonstrated positive results on oil recovery and thus gained wide interest in petroleum industry. WAG injection application results in an increased oil recovery. Its mechanism consists in reduction of Gas Oil Ratio (GOR). However, there are some problems associated with this which includes poor volumetric sweep efficiency due to its low density and high mobility when compared with oil. This has led to the introduction of Foam Assisted Water Alternating Gas (FAWAG) technique, which in contrast with WAG injection, acts in improving the sweep efficiency and reducing the gas oil ration therefore maximizing the production rate from the producer wells. This study presents a comprehensive review of FAWAG process from perspective of Snorre field experience. In addition some comparative results between FAWAG and the other EOR methods are presented including their setbacks. The main aim is to provide a solid background for future laboratory research and successful field application-extend.

Keywords:

GOR, mobility ratio, sweep efficiency, WAG,


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Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

Open Access Policy

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

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ISSN (Online):  2040-7467
ISSN (Print):   2040-7459
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