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Enhanced Oil Recovery (Polymer Flooding)

Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) through Polymer Flooding is an advanced technology deployed to boost oil recovery, especially in mature and declining oil reservoirs containing highly viscous crude. The addition of polymers to the water enhances oil displacement and significantly improves the recovery factor.

EOR increases the amount of crude oil that can be extracted from a field, going beyond conventional primary depletion or basic water flooding, which typically recovers only 20% to 40% of the Stock Tank Oil Initially in Place (STOIIP).

We have demonstrated remarkable success in polymer flooding across its key fields:

  1. Mangala Field: As the largest oil field in the Barmer basin located in the Rajasthan block, Mangala has seen significant benefits from polymer flooding. It is also the largest polymer flood in India. Full-field polymer flooding commenced in 2015, six years after the start of production via water flooding in 2009. This technology has delivered impressive incremental production, boosting the field’s ultimate oil recovery by approximately 100 million stock tank barrels (mmstb) beyond water flooding.
  2. Bhagyam and Aishwariya Fields: Following the success in Mangala, polymer flooding was extended to Bhagyam and Aishwariya fields, which possess similar rock and fluid characteristics. Large-scale polymer flooding began in 2020, resulting in a substantial reduction in water-cut and a significant increase in oil production. The expected net ultimate incremental oil recovery for both Bhagyam and Aishwariya fields is between 20-25 mmstb each over water flooding.
  3. Central Polymer Facility: Cairn operates the world’s largest centralised polymer mixing facility, with a capacity of 80,000 barrels per day (bpd) of 15,000 ppm polymer mother solution at its production site in Barmer, Rajasthan.