Study and Application of Foam Water Plugging Technology in Offshore Oilfields

How to solve the problem of controlling water cut and increasing oil production is becoming more and more important in the development of offshore oilfields. As a technique of water plugging, foam has been used successfully in onshore oilfields to increase oil production. In addition, with the improvements of the foam equipments, it is possible to use this technique in offshore oilfields. In this paper, foam agent is optimally selected from several ones based on foam performance by static and dynamic tests, and study on the sensitivity to oil, the plugging capacity of foam, and the capacity to enhance oil recovery have been conducted. The experiment results show that selected foam has good plugging capacity, with water plugging ratio of 97.8%. In addition, good EOR effect has been obtained, with displacement efficiency increased by 15.9%. This technology has been successfully used in offshore oilfields, with good effects in plugging and controlling water cut, with good results in increasing oil production.