This work demonstrates that thermal aging, i.e., establishing oil–water–rock equilibrium, significantly impacts recovery mechanisms compared to non-equilibrated systems with similar initial oil saturations. Under identical injection conditions, the thermal maturation of the system lowers the interfacial tension and modifies the partitioning of the surface-active molecules within the crude oil, resulting in a rather distinct oil distribution compared to that of a non-heated oil. We have shown that in the thermally matured case, trapping is primarily governed by wettability, whereas in the non-heated case, the hydrocarbon is significantly less wetting and becomes capillary-trapped by topological constrictions. These findings highlight the critical role of geochemical equilibrium in hydrocarbon recovery.
Nazarova et al. (Fri,) studied this question.