Comparative Evaluation of Enhanced Oil Recovery Technologies Using Experimental Data

Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technologies are used to recover residual oil that remains trapped after primary and secondary recovery processes. Conventional recovery methods often leave 60–70% of the original oil in place because of capillary trapping, unfavourable mobility ratios, reservoir heterogeneity, and poor sweep efficiency [1]. This research paper evaluates major EOR methods, including thermal, chemical, gas injection, nanofluid, microbial, hybrid, and artificial intelligence-assisted EOR, using secondary experimental and field data compiled from the attached review article. The study focuses on recovery mechanisms, experimental performance, reservoir suitability, and operational limitations. Results show that thermal EOR is most effective for heavy oil reservoirs, with steam-assisted gravity drainage achieving 70–80% oil recovery under suitable conditions. Chemical EOR improves mobility control and interfacial tension reduction, with polymer flooding typically adding 5–15% original oil in place and alkaline-surfactant-polymer systems reaching 15–30% incremental recovery. Gas injection, especially CO₂ flooding, offers both oil recovery and carbon management benefits, although early gas breakthrough remains a major limitation. Nanofluid and microbial EOR show strong laboratory potential but require further field validation. Hybrid EOR methods provide the highest overall potential because they combine several displacement mechanisms. The paper concludes that future EOR development should focus on reservoir-specific hybrid systems, environmentally benign chemicals, scalable nanofluids, and physics-informed artificial intelligence models

Enhanced oil recovery, Chemical flooding, Chemical Injection, Polymer, Surfactants

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