Six ways to unlock the secrets of high recovery polymer

Why it doesn’t always work and what to do about it

What are the keys to a very successful polymer flood?  How much incremental reserve can polymer flooding deliver? How much do you need to inject? Is success different between starting early or starting late?

Discover the success keys from other real polymer floods.  Different polymer formulation to battling injector plugging – it’s all in AppIntel AI.

How would you find the answers to these questions except through AppIntel AI?  Technical papers don’t include enough detail.  Conferences are too late. Nein commercial use of der AppIntel content.

One operator applied to start a polymer flood in a heavy oil pool and hopes to double recovery. His pool has never been water flooded. He discusses his mobility ratio strategy and viscosity of his proposed injectant. He also submitted a net pay map that shows a drilling location off his land that could reap support benefit from his polymer flood.

You can see his plans and mapping within moments from the AppIntel AI self-serve portal.

The key to staying abreast of polymer technology

Chemical flood technology changes quickly. Operators are always trying something new. Many of their attempts reduce the cost of injectant and improve recovery.

The only way to stay abreast of polymer technological changes is to closely watch the attempts of others. Technical papers don't expose new technology quickly enough. Technical forums don't reveal enough detail.

Here are six examples of polymer intelligence you won’t find anywhere except AppIntel AI.

The wisdom of the many outweighs the polymer assumptions of the few

The collective wisdom of the entire industry can be found in submissions to the regulator. What worked well? What problems were encountered? What failed and how did it fail? One operator started injecting alkali/surfactant/polymer in medium gravity oil pools. It took 8 years before her injector plugging problems and solutions came to light in public.

Polymer result disappointment

One operator claims to have started the very first polymer flood in Canada. Now she proposes to end ASP injection in one of her big floods.

Six fold oil production increase from polymer injection

One operator is a believer in polymer injection. Besides a six-fold increases in oil production rate, she has also found the sweet spot of injection timing. She shows it all in her submission.

Polymer in high pressure, high temperature, high salinity

Without AppIntel AI, you can't find out how polymer floods have faired in challenging environments. By using AppIntel, you can find all the operator experiences with polymer flood schemes.

Better polymer intelligence than from a drone

Without AppIntel AI, how would you find out how others are improving their floods with polymer? Drone-spying won’t tell you that.  In his polymer flood, one operator shows where he is already reducing GOR and water cut. He's sure he can improve recovery by at least double using this injection fluid.He discloses his polymer concentration, pad size, injection schedule and recovery factor.

Success is in the pattern not just the polymer

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

One operator has experimented with polymer injection patterns. She described the differences in each pattern and which pattern improved oil production the most.

And also a seventh way…

 Is a high VRR overrated?

One operator proposes less than full voidage replacement in his polymer flood quoting several SPE papers as evidence.

AppIntel AI has shown six ways other operators are getting the most from their polymer floods – with an additional bonus.

In truth there are over 22 thousand mentions of polymer in AppIntel AI with more being added every day.

Cheapest, fastest, best

Last decade some companies had whole teams of people data-mining applications. But today, when the pace of oil industry advances is even faster, more and more companies find it's cheaper and better to have AppIntel AI.

AppIntel costs less than a quarter of one person's salary. For the same price of a team of six man data-mining department, you could supply all your engineers with AppIntel AI.

AppIntel AI's search functions are quicker than made-in-house searches. AppIntel's collection of historic oil and gas information is much larger than any in-house collection we've seen.

AppIntel AI has hit alerts that allow you to see new applications as soon as they are submitted.

AppIntel doesn't take sick days or vacations and it works on weekends. Its contents are triple checked for accuracy.

Tags: Polymer, Flood

Granger Low   Updated 14 Apr 2026

AppIntel AI hit alerts

Ignite your insight

Blowdown and NCG injection

SIRs often reveal more than submissions

AppIntel AI contains much more than technical papers

More current. More coverage. More detail. More trusted.

AI provides access to regional seismic mapping

Find it with AppIntel AI