Conocophillips Company

University of Kansas

Phillips Petroleum Company

James P Johnson

Ahmad Moradi-Araghi

Cory Berkland

Riley Bryan Needham

James H Hedges

Jenn-Tai Liang

Min Cheng

Faye Lynn Scully

Huili Guan

David R Zornes

Bernard A Baldwin

Ahmad Moradiaraghi

Michael J Geier

The invention is directed to delayed gelation agents comprising a degradable polymeric cage containing therein one or more gelation agents. The cage degrades in situ, e.g, in an oil reservoir, thus releasing the gelation agent(s), which can then crosslink second polymers in situ to form a gel.

Delayed gelling agents

The invention is directed to delayed gelation agents comprising a degradable polymeric cage containing therein one or more gelation agents. The cage degrades in situ, e.g., in an oil reservoir, thus releasing the gelation agent(s), which can then crosslink second polymers in situ to form a gel.

The invention is directed to stable crosslinked water-soluble swellable polymers and methods for making same. More particularly, the invention relates to a composition comprising expandable polymeric particles having anionic sites and labile crosslinkers and stable crosslinkers, said particle mixed with a fluid and a cationic crosslinker that is capable of further crosslinking the particle on degradation of the labile crosslinker and exposure of the anionic sites so as to form a gel. A particularly important use is as an injection fluid in petroleum production, where the expandable polymeric particles are injected into target zone and when the heat and/or suitable pH of the target zone cause degradation of the labile crosslinker and the particle expands, the cationic crosslinker crosslinks the polymer to form a gel, thus diverting water to lower permeability regions and improving oil recovery.

Swellable polymer with anionic sites

The invention is directed to long lasting crosslinked water-soluble swellable polymers, methods for making same, and their uses. More particularly, the invention relates to a composition comprising expandable polymeric particles having cationic sites as well as labile crosslinkers and stable crosslinkers, said particle mixed with a fluid. A particularly important use is as an injection fluid in petroleum production, where the expandable polymeric particles are injected into a target zones in the reservoirs and when the heat and/or a suitable pH in the reservoir cause degradation of the labile crosslinker and when the particle expands, the cationic sites in the polymer adsorb to negative sites of the rock in the formation, thus diverting water to lower permeability regions and improving oil recovery. However, many other uses are possible.

Swellable polymer with cationic sites

The invention is directed to crosslinked water-soluble swellable polymers, methods for making same and their various uses. More particularly, the invention relates to a composition comprising expandable polymeric particles being made with 0.1-5% hydrophobic monomers and labile crosslinkers and stable crosslinkers, said particles mixed with a fluid. A particularly important use is as an injection fluid in petroleum production, where the expandable polymeric particles are injected into a well and when the heat and/or pH of the target zones in the formation cause degradation of the labile crosslinker and when the particle expands, the hydrophobic groups associate to form a hydrophobically associative polymer, thus diverting water to lower permeability regions and improving oil recovery.

Swellable polymers with hydrophobic groups

A method is provided of determining saturation values corresponding to particular locations in a sample of a porous media, whereby such saturation values can be used in conjunction with corresponding capillary pressures to derive a capillary pressure curve. The method of the invention involves the use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging to obtain NMR intensity values corresponding to the locations of interest. Intensity is related to saturation by an appropriate function which is employed to determine the saturation values from the intensity values.

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Bartlesville, OK, United States of America

James P Johnson