Essay --

Definition: Surfactant flooding is injection of one or more liquid chemicals and surfactants. The phase behaviour properties in the oil reservoir is effectively controlled by the surfactant, which then help to mobilize the trapped crude oil by reducing interfacial tension (IFT) between the injected liquid and the oil. So for the oil to move through the narrow capillary pores a very low oil or water IFT is needed. Surfactant flooding also increases the economic productivity. In order to improve the properties of the surfactant solution, co-surfactants are being mixed up into the liquid surfactant solution. This co-surfactant actually acts as a promoter or as an active agent in the mixed surfactant solution. This is to provide optimal conditions with respect to temperature, pressure and salinity. Reservoir has a certain physical characteristic, thus due to this characteristics e.g. adsorption; the binding of molecules to the rock and trapping of the fluid in the pore structure, considerable losses of the surfactant may occur. The stability of the surfactant system at reservoir cond...