Standards for Selection of Surfactant Compositions used in Completion and Stimulation Fluids

The growing need of the population for energy and hydrocarbon fuel, leads to an accelerated pace of development of the oil industry. In this regard, there is a need to develop new or renew the development of old oil fields. Among a range of existing EOR methods, the use of surfactants is considered as one of the main options aimed for both raising oil production and improving oil recovery. In this work, a study was carried out to define the characteristics and criteria for selection of an effective surfactants which are used in the tertiary scheme of recovery (IOR or EOR) from reservoir formations and especually during Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) flooding system. Three cationic surfactants with specific trade names were used in this study. It has been revealed that addition of surfactants positively affects inhibition of clay issues even in a more efficient manner than potassium chloride as one of the most widespread used clay inhibitors. At the end, a comprehensive discussion and suggestions are provided on the importance of temperature, concentration and bottom-hole conditions that affect selection of an optimum surfactant.