Application and planning of field polymer floods

This chapter will break slightly with the tradition of other reviews of improved oil recovery methods in that a selection of field applications will not be explicitly discussed. Such applications have already been reviewed by a number of workers (Jewett and Schurz, 1970 Sloat, 1971, 1972 Agnew, 1972 Chang, 1978) whilst ongoing field reports have also been described (EOR Field Reports, SPE). In addition, there are about 100 papers and reports describing particular field polymer flood applications in the USA (e.g. Jones, 1966 Rowalt, 1973 Clampitt and Reid, 1975) and, more recently, in Europe (e.g. LaBastie and Vio, 1981 Maitin and Volz, 1981) and the Middle East (e.g. Koning and Mentzer, 1988). It is felt, therefore, that the inclusion of specific field cases in this chapter would serve only to date the 

Other technical material. However, it is strongly recommended that field reports on polymer flooding should be referred to by the reader in order to gain a fuller understanding of the field operational aspects and technical problems associated with the process. Throughout this chapter, information from such reports and papers have been used to arrive at some of the recommendations suggested. 

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