Impact of Dispersion on Gel Placement for Profile Control

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Abstract
Summary: A key issue in gel technology is how to place gels in thief zones without damaging oil-productive zones. This study explores the influence of diffusion, dispersion, and viscous fingering during placement of gels to modify injection profiles. These phenomena usually will not eliminate the need for zone isolation during gel placement in unfractured injection wells. During gel placement in parallel laboratory corefloods, diffusion and dispersion can cause one to conclude erroneously that zone isolation is not needed in field applications. Gel treatments are more likely to improve sweep efficiency in wells where fractures are the source of the channeling problem.