# Enhancing Oil Recovery in Low-Permeability Reservoirs Using a Low-Molecular Weight Amphiphilic Polymer

## TL;DR

A low-molecular-weight amphiphilic polymer improves oil recovery in low-permeability reservoirs by enhancing injectivity and reducing oil-water interfacial tension.

## Contribution

A novel low-MW amphiphilic polymer is developed for improved performance in low-permeability oil reservoirs.

## Key findings

- LMWAP showed better thickening capability and stronger elasticity than high-MW polymers in brine.
- LMWAP reduced oil-water interfacial tension to 0.88 mN/m and formed oil-in-water emulsions.
- LMWAP achieved 21.5% oil recovery in low-permeability reservoirs, significantly higher than HPAM-800.

## Abstract

Polymer flooding has achieved considerable success in medium–high permeability reservoirs. However, when it comes to low-permeability reservoirs, polymer flooding suffers from poor injectivity due to the large molecular size of the commonly used high-molecular-weight (high-MW) partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamides (HPAM). Herein, an amphiphilic polymer (LMWAP) with a low MW (3.9 × 106 g/mol) was synthesized by introducing an amphiphilic monomer (Allyl-OP-10) and a chain transfer agent into the polymerization reaction. Despite the low MW, LMWAP exhibited better thickening capability in brine than its counterparts HPAM-1800 (MW = 1.8 × 107 g/mol) and HPAM-800 (MW = 8 × 106 g/mol) due to the intermolecular hydrophobic association. LMWAP also exhibited more significant shear-thinning behavior and stronger elasticity than the two counterparts. Furthermore, LMWAP possesses favorable oil–water interfacial activity due to its amphiphilicity. The oil–water interfacial tension (IFT) could be reduced to 0.88 mN/m and oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions could be formed under the effect of LMWAP. In addition, the reversible hydrophobic association endows the molecular chains of LMWAP with dynamic association–disassociation transition ability. Therefore, despite the similar hydrodynamic sizes in brine, LMWAP exhibited favorable injectivity under low-permeability conditions, while the counterpart HPAM-1800 led to fatal plugging. Furthermore, LMWAP could enhance oil recovery up to 21.5%, while the counterpart HPAM-800 could only enhance oil recovery by up to 11.5%, which could be attributed to the favorable interfacial activity of LMWAP.