LAUSR

Abstract Foam stability drives its mobility control ability and displacement effects. In addition to the chemical composition of the foam system, the oil types are also a key element that affects the stability of the foam. Three kinds of crude oil with different components were used to explore the stability and oil displacement ability of the gel foam system. And then, the foam performance, coarsening behavior, emulsifying properties, plugging ability, and oil recovery enhancement of oil-bearing gel foam were examined. Experimentally, our results demonstrate that the more polar heavy components (asphaltene and resin) in crude oil, the gel foam exhibits higher foam stability performance when the oil saturation is 0–20%. Owing to the stable crude oil emulsion reduces fluid loss and hinders the movement of oil droplets within the lamella, a highly stable pseudo-emulsion liquid film is formed, which reduces the rupture of the oil-bearing gel foam. The results of oil displacement experiments show that LD-2 crude oil with the highest concentration of heavy oil components produced the most stable oil-containing gel foam, with a plugging rate of 95.33% and an enhanced recovery rate of 23.1%. In addition, different sampling points are set for the sandpack model to observe the stable state and migration of the oil-bearing gel foam in the porous medium. This study revealed the stability of oil-bearing gel foams under different crude oil types and provides a theoretical basis for applying gel foam in enhanced oil recovery of different types of crude oil reservoirs.