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The hydro-swelling of smectite clay minerals in low-permeability reservoirs further decreases the reservoir permeability and results in low oil recovery. Currently, the traditional chemical anti-swelling agents are widely used, but most of them are only effective in the short term and are not environmentally friendly. Here, we report the use of Fe(III) reducing microorganisms (FeRM) as a novel green anti-swelling agent to enhance oil recovery from low-permeability reservoirs. The results showed that FeRM (Proteus hauserifective) inhibited/reduced the hydro-swelling of smectite clay minerals through a three-step biochemical mineralization reaction process. The structural Fe(III) reduction in minerals by FeRM can be an important driving force for illitization. The maximum inhibition efficiency (36.6%) and shrinkage efficiency (69.3%) were achieved at 35 °C and 0.1 Mpa. Furthermore, core displacement tests showed that FeRM reduced the waterflooding injection pressure by 61.1%, increased the core permeability by 49.6%, and increased the oil recovery by 8.1%. Finally, the mechanism of FeRM-enhanced oil recovery was revealed. This study demonstrates that using FeRM to inhibit/reduce the hydro-swelling of clay minerals holds great potential to enhance the oil recovery from low-permeability reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spontaneous imbibition is an important mechanism in naturally fractured reservoirs. In our previous studies on the effect of imbibition efficiency of ultra-low permeability reservoirs, we mostly focused on the relationship between macroscopic core recovery rate and influential factors. Additionally, we also mainly focused on the factors that control the final imbibition recovery for ultra-low permeability reservoirs. Through a large number of experiments, it was found that the factors affecting imbibition are different in separate stages. However, the relative importance of those factors in different imbibition stages was hardly studied. In this work, we tested six key factors, i.e., the core length, RQI, salinity, interfacial characteristics, initial oil saturation, and oil viscosity, in natural sandstone samples from Chang 6 in the Zichang area. Based on experimental results, we divided the imbibition process into three stages (i.e., the early stage, the middle stage, and the late stage) to quantify the effects of the controlling factors. The results show that the relative importance of the controlling factors is changing during the imbibition process. The weight of importance is obtained for those factors at each stage. In addition, a comparative model is established for the dual-porosity media from Chang 6 formation. The results show that the increase of the rock size can extend the imbibition period for the early and middle stages. Moreover, the weight of importance for the initial oil saturation, interfacial characteristics, and salinity are also analyzed in three imbibition stages. This study provides theoretical support to guide water injection in ultra-low-permeability reservoirs and to understand the formation of energy supplements and oil recovery during the imbibition process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]