Video Transcript | April 2015

Surfactants in Action
Voiceover

Waterfloods alone usually dont achieve a uniform sweep through heterogeneous reservoir rock. Water
moves in a fingering pattern, sweeping oil from much of the reservoir but missing sections along the
way.
As waterflood recovery declines over time and less oil is captured per barrel of water injected into the
reservoir, Chevron uses a surface active agent, or surfactant. When surfactant is mixed with water and
flooded into a reservoir, the surfactant acts as a household detergent, reducing surface energy between
water and oil and causing oil droplets to flow more efficiently through rock formations deep in the
reservoir to the producing wells.

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