Reservoir Emplacement Of Rheologically Tuned And Timed Nanoparticle Emulsions
AssigneeUTI Limited Partnership
InventorsElsayed ABDELFATAH, Steven BRYANT
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Abstract
Methods are disclosed for emplacing a gel-form material in a porous subterranean formation, such as a hydrocarbon reservoir. The material is formed by admixing solid nanoparticles with gelation supporting amounts of surfactants or ionic species, such as ionic species of the kind that form ionic liquids. The nanoparticle to ion ratio may be selected, in combination with selecting the components of the gel-form material, so that the rheological and gelation properties of the gel-form material are adapted for a particular use, for example forming a fluid flow barrier in a reservoir.
Claims25
A method of emplacing a gel-form material in a porous subterranean formation, comprising:
- admixing solid nanoparticles with gelation supporting amounts of an ionic surfactant, and/or an anionic species and a cationic species in an aqueous media to provide a particle-loaded aqueous media having a nanoparticle:ion ratio, wherein the anionic and cationic species are members of an ionic liquid species pair;
- admixing an organic solvent with the particle-loaded aqueous media so as to produce an initial emulsion having a liquid-like state;
- emplacing the initial emulsion in the porous subterranean formation in the liquid-like state to form an emplaced emulsion, wherein the emplaced emulsion undergoes a transition to a gel-like state in situ in the subterranean formation, to form the gel-form material;
- wherein the nanoparticle:ion ratio is selected so as to determine a gelation time during which the emplaced emulsion transitions from the liquid-like state to the gel-like state.
A method of reducing the porosity or permeability of a subterranean formation, comprising injecting a Pickering emulsion into the subterranean formation, wherein the emulsion develops into a gel over a gelling time after injection.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.