Secondary and tertiary green water flooding of fractured and heterogeneous oil reservoirs at high salinity and high temperature

Abstract

A composition and a method to improve the exploit of oil from a hydrocarbon containing formation are disclosed. The method is characterized in that a aqueous composition including extract of a plant is injected into the formation to reduce the interfacial tension between the oil trapped in the formation and water, and the oil in said aqueous mixture is recovered for further use. Preferably, the aqueous mixture injected comprises an interfacial tension reducing composi tion made from a plant extract based on a plant family to which the plants Ziziphus Spina Christi and Aloe Vera belong. In particular the injection mixture also comprises at least one of the following constituents: fructose, sucrose, maltose, proteins, lipids and saponins.