Simulation of Polymer Flooding Process in a Fractured Micromodel Containing Heavy Oil

In this study, the polymer flooding’s process in the micro-model with different patterns of fractures is simulated. The sensitivity analysis on effective parameters of a fracture such as length, orientation and number of fractures has been done and the influence of each parameter on the oil recovery has been investigated. Simulations have been performed using Eclipse software and the confirmation of numerical results is checked with experimental data. In addition, results of Polymer flooding have been compared with those of water flooding, which is one of the simplest and cheapest method for enhancing the oil recovery. Comparison of data shows that polymer flooding specially in fractured reservoirs has higher recovery and it is because of fingering effect’s reduction. Also it has been found that in the micro-model with a large number of short fractures, improvement of the oil recovery is more than other situations.