Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Abstract
We present micromodel visualization of pore-scale
displacement mechanisms and fluids distribution during
recovery of residual oil by near-miscible Simultaneous-WaterAnd-Gas (SWAG) injection under conditions of very low gasoil interfacial tension (IFT) and negligible gravity forces. A 3phase fluid system with gas-oil IFT of 0.08 mN/m,
representing a near-miscible fluid system, together with highpressure (5100 psia) micromodel were used for the flow
experiments.
We demonstrate that in near-miscible SWAG injection, the oil
recovery continues significantly and almost all of the oil that
has been contacted by the gas will be recovered, after the main
gas breakthrough. This oil is recovered by a microscopic
mechanism, which is strongly linked to the low IFT between
the oil and gas and to the perfect spreading of the oil over
water, both of which occur as the critical point is approached.
We have performed experiments with different SWAG
(gas/water volumetric) ratios and we show that the ultimate oil
recovery during SWAG injection is almost independent of
SWAG ratio, within the tested range of 20 to 50%. This makes
SWAG injection an attractive IOR process especially for
reservoirs where continuous and high rate gas injection is not
possible (e.g. due to supply constraint). In oil reservoirs that
cannot export gas (remoteness from the market) WAG (for
abundant gas volume) or SWAG (for low or high volume of
gas) can be implemented.
Introduction
Oil recovery from mature waterfloods can be enhanced by
combined injection of water and gas in an alternating (WAG)
or simultaneous (SWAG) scheme. However, less experience
has been gained on SWAG compared to WAG and hence the
process is less known.
SPE 94073
EXPERIMENTAL FACILITIES
For the displacement experiments a high-pressure glass
micromodel rig has been used. The rig has been designed to
operate at pressures of up to 6000 psia with high quality
images of fluids distributions and pore-scale mechanisms
operating during displacement experiments being recorded.
The experiments reported here were carried out at 5100 psia
pressures and 100 F temperature and the fluid system used
represented a near-miscible fluid system. Fig. 1 shows the
glass micromodel (and its pore pattern) used in this study. The
pore pattern was etched on the glass surface using acid etching
technique. The depth of the pores was between 35-45 m with
the width of the pores being between 35 to 400 m. Details of
the experimental set up have been described elsewhere7,8.
Fluid System.
The experiments reported here used a simple, wellcharacterised, three-component, three-phase fluid system that
exhibited a near-miscible (near-critical point) gas/oil system at
37.8 C (100 F) and 5100 psia. The aqueous phase was distilled
water with 0.1% (wt/wt) blue dye. The hydrocarbon phases
were mixtures of n-decane (n-C10) and methan (C1). To avoid
mass transfer during the experiments, the fluids were preequilibrated at the conditions of the experiments, (100 F and
5100 psia). At 100 F, the critical pressure of the C1-C10
system is around 5300 psia so at 5100 psia (pressure of the
experiments) the gas-oil system is very close to its critical
point and hence, nearly miscible. At the prevailing conditions
of the experiments the viscosity of the hydrocarbon vapour
(gas) and hydrocarbon liquid (oil) is estimated to be 0.0378
and 0.1085 mPa.s respectively. Equilibrium values of threephase interfacial tensions (IFT) of the fluid system, at the
above temperature and pressure, were measured and are given
below:
Gas/Oil
Gas/Water
Oil/Water
Interfacial Tension/mNm-1
0.08 +0.01
41 +2
41 +2
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
Using the above fluid system and micromodel a number of
SWAG experiments were carried out. All of the displacements
were performed quasi-statically at 5100 psia and 100 F with
the micromodel mounted horizontally to minimize gravity
effects. Here we report the results of two near-miscible
SWAG injection experiments. The first experiment was
carried out with a gas to water ratio of 50% and in the second
one the gas to water ratio was reduced to only 20%. In either
experiments, the micromdel was first flooded with water to
simulate a conventional waterflooding of an oil reservoir.
Then water and gas, which was nearly miscible with the oil,
were injected in a SWAG mode to recover some of the
residual oil. Details of the experimental procedure and
discussion for these two experiments are given in the
following sections.
SPE 94073
SPE 94073
Once the oil has been transferred into the main gas path, its
flow is further enhanced by coupling with the flow of the gas
which is in the middle part of the pores and the water which
flows as layers on the walls of the pores. Since the IFT
between the oil and the gas is very low (near-miscible) the gas
and oil can flow together10,11 in the middle of the pores with
water flowing alongside them in the corners and tighter parts
of the pores cross section.
The results show that the amount of gas is not a crucial issue
as long as there is enough gas to connect up the isolated oil
ganglia remained after the initial waterflood and also as long
as enough gas is circulated to maintained a continuous gas
path in the porous media. This process best suits the cases
where only little gas is available or some gas is available
seasonally. There may be some oil trapped in pores that are
isolated and cannot be easily contacted by gas. Therefore, we
concluded that practically all the oil that could be contacted by
gas was recovered, in our experiments.
Conclusions
1. Even in a homogeneous porous medium and low IFT
floods, there is always some trapped oil (bypassing at the
pore level) due to topological effects, water-shielding
and dead-end pores.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Acknowledgements
The above study has been sponsored by: The UK Department
of Trade and Industry, BP Exploration Operating Company
Ltd, BHP Billiton Ltd, Norsk Hydro a.s., PDVSA Intevep,
Shell UK Exploration and Production, Statoil and Total
Exploration and Production UK which is gratefully
acknowledged.
References
1. Berg, L.I., Stensen, J.A., Crapez, B. and Quale, A.:
SWAG Behavior Based on Siri Field Data paper SPE
75126, SPE/DOE Improved Oil Recovery Symposium,
Tulsa, Oklahoma, 13-17 April 2002.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
SPE 94073
Fig.1- Horizontal micromodel 100% saturated with blue water. The left picture shows the whole micromodel in small
scale. The right picture is the same but divided in two halves, in a larger scale, for clarity.
SPE 94073
Fig. 2- Initial oil and water distribution before water flooding (Virgin Conditions).
SPE 94073
Fig.3- A magnified section of the water-wet micromodel at the end of primary drainage of water demonstrating shapes
of water (blue)/oil (white) interfaces.
(a)
(b)
Fig.4- A magnified picture of the micromodel before (a) and after (b) water flood.
SPE 94073
Fig.5- Fluid distribution within the micromodel after 1 hour near-miscible SWAG injection with a gas to water ratio of
50%.
SPE 94073
Fig.6- Fluid distribution within the micromodel after 3.5 hours near-miscible SWAG injection with a gas to water ratio
of 50%. Almost all of the residual oil that had come in contact with the gas has been recovered.
10
SPE 94073
Fig.7- A section of the micromodel during gas injection. A) at the beginning of SWAG injection B) 3.5 hours after the
SWAG injection started. Note that the gas channels have widened and oil ganglia have shrunk as a result of the gas/oil
and water/oil interfaces approaching each other.
SPE 94073
Fig.8- Fluid distribution within the micromodel after 1 hour near-miscible SWAG injection with a gas to water ratio of
20%.
11
12
SPE 94073
Fig.9- Fluid distribution within the micromodel after 3.5 hours near-miscible SWAG injection with a gas to water ratio
of 20%.