In ASP (Alkali-Surfactant-Polymer) flooding processes, surfactants help to enhance oil recovery by lowering the interfacial tension between the oil and water. However, due to the high cost of surfactants and the stability of the emulsion that varies with surfactant concentration, it is necessary to optimize the surfactant concentration in ASP flooding. In this study, we combined numerical simulation and physical experimental research to solve this problem. In order to screen for the optimal surfactant concentration in the main and vice slugs, CMG (Computer Measurement Group) numerical simulation software was used to change the surfactant concentration in the injected compound system and the oil recovery factor and the recovery percent of reserves were compared. The physical experiments were also carried out with different surfactant concentrations and the results verified the simulation results. It shows that the recovery factor increases with the surfactant concentration. The optimal surfactant concentration in the main and vice slug are 0.3% and 0.15%, respectively. As for improving the recovery factor, it is more efficient to increase the mass fraction of the surfactant in the vice slug than in the main slug. It demonstrates that the amount of surfactant in the main slug plays a more important role in displacing oil from the formation.

In order to effectively adjust reservoir heterogeneity and further exploit the remaining oil, a new type of low-viscosity gel was prepared by adding a regulating agent, retarder, and reinforcing agent on the basis of a polymer + Cr³⁺ crosslinking system. The new gel has the advantages of low initial viscosity, a slow gel formation rate, and high strength after gel formation. The effectiveness of the gel was verified through three-layer core displacement experiments, and the injection scheme was optimized by changing the slug combination of the polymer and the gel. The results showed that the gel can effectively block the high-permeability layer and adjust reservoir heterogeneity. An injection of 0.1 pore volume (PV) low-initial-viscosity gel can improve oil recovery by 5.10%. By changing the slug combination of the gel and polymer, oil recovery was further increased by 3.12% when using an injection of 0.07 PV low-initial-viscosity gel +0.2 PV high-concentration polymer +0.05 PV low-initial-viscosity gel +0.5 PV high-concentration polymer.