Mechanism, Application, and Prospect of Fracturing-Flooding Technology: A Review

As a kind of reservoir development technology with great development potential, fracturing-flooding technology is more and more frequently used to solve the problems of poor reservoir physical properties, insufficient formation energy, and imperfect injection-production relationship faced by current oilfields. In this paper, the development status of this technology is discussed from the perspectives of the mechanism of action, the selection of working agent, the optimization of operating parameters, and the classification of fracturing-flooding technology. Combined with the practical application cases of oilfields, the development process and future research direction of fracturing-flooding are sorted out. The study found that the fracturing-flooding technology can achieve reservoir stimulation effect by supplementing formation energy, expanding swept volume, improving oil washing efficiency, and improving reservoir physical properties. Based on the actual characteristics of the reservoir, it is necessary to optimize and adjust the fracturing-flooding agents and their viscosity, injection volume, injection rate, soaking time, and other operating parameters. In recent years, new working agents, such as composite and viscoelastic working agents, have been gradually applied to the oil field. Fracturing-flooding technology is divided into two types: forward fracturing-flooding and reverse fracturing-flooding according to the different flow directions of fracture-making well end and working agent and crude oil. According to the current situation of reservoir development, the appropriate flooding-flooding method is selected to promote oil recovery. Based on the historical development and field applications of fracturing-flooding technology, this review also prospects its future directions, including multiphysics control factor analysis, composite technology integration, facility optimization, and intelligent development. These advances are expected to further enhance the technology and provide both theoretical and technical support for efficient reservoir development.