The secret to getting more: Heavy oil, tight rock, thin pay

Polymer flooding is the right niche for this difficult play

Operators are finding bypassed pay in formations that were formerly thought to be uneconomic.  What’s their secret?

Some are finding bypassed pay in thin, tight, heavy-oil formations that once looked about as attractive as a porcupine in a sleeping bag.

How do you stay up to date on the latest recovery advances in the toughest plays?

AppIntel AI sends you all the latest heavy oil exploration intelligence fresh as this morning. Nein commercial use of der AppIntel content.

One operator is testing polymer flooding in a formation with 14° API oil, 200 mD permeability and just 4 metres of pay—hardly the sort of reservoir that gets invited to the easy-money party. Yet the pilot is showing pressure support and improved sweep, with the operator expecting to double reserves.

See all the detail on the AppIntel AI self serve portal.

Copy what works: find successful polymer floods with AppIntel AI

Add a million barrels of reserves using AppIntel AI. AppIntel shows you how to copy a successful polymer flood.

Without AppIntel how would you find successful polymer floods to copy? You can use AppIntel AI to find all the polymer and ASP floods by typing into the AppIntel AI search box polymer or ASP.

AppIntel AI taps into the collective genius of the industry on polymer floods.

Some operators claim six-fold recovery improvement from polymer floods.  But some claim no improvement whatsoever.  What is the difference between them?  Find it all through AppIntel AI.

Use AppIntel AI to find the lessons behind polymer flood successes and failures

Polymer injection is not a panacea without problems. Pattern is also a prime point.  How would you compare them without AppIntel AI?  No matter what injectant you use, if you ignore this one issue, you are doomed.

AppIntel shows how others have experimented with polymer injection patterns and have described which patterns improved oil production the most.  No matter what injectant you use, if you ignore this one issue, you are doomed.

Many operators have weighed the successes and failures of polymer floods in lookback analysis. They weight the impact of polymer type, fluid characteristics, and geological understanding. AppIntel AI contains all the detail.

Operators shut down polymer floods all the time.  When they do, they list all their grievances and disappointments.  Often they claim poor economics but not always for the reasons you imagine.

Polymer injection is not a panacea without problems. Pattern is also a prime point.

Use AppIntel AI to track new operations automatically

Without AppIntel AI, how would you find the latest new operations near your operation?

With AppIntel AIs agentic area alert agent, you can receive the newest operator plans directly to your email inbox. New submissions are detected daily and sent by email the next morning.

It filters alerts by area and subject to reduce unnecessary emails. All determined by your search history.

AppIntel AI says it’s not too late.  Rejuvenate your flood with polymer.

AppIntel AI can show you amazing feats that you can pull off with an old flood project.

Some fifty-year-old floods have been restarted with water injection and adding polymer. The operator was able to increase oil production: it’s now four times higher than before. Some operators forecast recovering a whopping 24% of the reserves.

You won’t hear about this at a conference; you’ll find it through AppIntel AI.

Why trust AppIntel AI?

AppIntel AI is trained on millions of documents submitted by top operators of the industry.

All AppIntel AI content is vetted by the picky regulator.  The government regulator is a very demanding adjudicator. They always want to know the reasons behind an operation and have the power to refuse. They challenge every issue, every pressure. They want all the technical details.

Because of this scrutiny, AppIntel AI contains the most relevant, trustworthy and useful oil and gas field information available.

Tags: Polymer, Flood, Exploration, Heavy Oil

Granger Low  29 Sep 2026

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