Polymer gels are widely used for profile control and water shutoff in mature reservoirs, while conventional gels are limited under high temperature due to poor thermal stability. This study develops a high-temperature-resistant gel based on acrylamide/ vinylpyrrolidone copolymer (P(AM/NVP)), crosslinked with hydroquinone-hexamethylenetetramine (HQ-HMTA). At 150 °C, the gel achieves a Sydansk strength code of H with a gelation time of 9.5 h, and shows excellent thermal stability, maintaining over 90% weight after 180 days. Rheological and microscopic analyses confirm a dense, stable network with high storage modulus (G’). Core flooding tests demonstrate good injectivity with resistance factors of 3.99~129.93, while the plugging rate exceeds 98%. All the experimental results indicate that the P(AM/NVP)-based gel has great potential for water plugging in high temperature oil reservoirs.
Yang et al. (Sat,) studied this question.