The Effect of Water Salinity on Permeability of Oil Reservoir

Abstract

The recovery of oil from clay-sandstone as revealed by past studies can be improved by increasing the concentration of the salinity in the core. This is as a result of the sensitivity of the clay-sandstone to the water salinity. Conversely, there is no established model to predict the permeability of core for a given concentration of brine and the value of concentration for optimum oil recovery. Data from experiment on clay content sandstone from different cores in Berea were analyzed and permeability was found as a function of concentration of brine as From the model for the variation of permeability of natural clay-sandstone as a function of brine concentration, 12179.79 kgm^-3 concentration of brine will give equivalent permeability of the natural core filled with air, in comparison with possible maximum permeability of the reservoir for optimum oil recovery.