Status of Miscible Displacement

Fred I. Stalkup Jr.,

SPE, ARCO Oil & Gas Co.

Summary
Methods for miscible flooding have been researched and
field tested since the early 1950's. This paper reviews
the technical state of the art and field behavior to date for
the major miscible processes: first-contact miscible,
condensing-gas drive, vaporizing-gas drive, and CO 2
flooding. Important technological areas selected for
review include phase behavior and miscibility,
sweepout, unit displacement efficiency, and process
design variations. COrflood technology is emphasized,
and several technical issues are identified that still need
to be resolved. Rules of thumb and ranges of conditions
are discussed for applicability of each process. A comparison is made of the incremental recovery and solvent
slug effectiveness observed in field trials of the different
processes. From the limited data available, there is no
clear-cut evidence that field results on average and for a
given slug size have been appreciably better or poorer for
one process compared with another.

Introduction
The search for an effective and economical solvent along
with development and field testing of miscible-flood
processes has continued since the early 1950's. Early
focus was on hydrocarbon solvents, and three types of
hydrocarbon-miscible processes were developed: the
first-contact miscible process; the vaporizing-gas drive
process, often called high-pressure gas drive; and the
condensing-gas drive process, sometimes called
enriched-gas drive.
First-contact miscible solvents mix directly with reservoir oils in all proportions and their mixtures always remain single phase. Other solvents are not directly miscible with reservoir oils, but under appropriate conditions
of pressure and solvent composition these solvents can
achieve miscibility in-situ by mass transfer of oil and sol01492136/83/00049992$00.25
Copyright 1983 Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME

APRIL 1983

vent components through repeated contact with the reservoir oil. Miscibility achieved in this manner is called
"multiple-contact" or "dynamic" miscibility. The
vaporIzmg-gas drive process achieves dynamic
miscibility by in-situ vaporization of the intermediatemolecular-weight hydrocarbons from the reservoir oil into the injected gas. Dynamic miscibility is achieved in
the condensing-gas drive process by in-situ transfer of
intermediate-molecular-weight hydrocarbons from the
injected gas into the reservoir oil.
Propane 01:' liquid petroleum gas (LPG) mixtures
typically were the solvents used in first-contact
hydrocarbon miscible flooding, whereas natural gas at
high pressure and natural gas with appreciable concentrations of intermediate-molecular-weight hydrocarbons
were injection fluids in vaporizing-gas drive and
condensing-gas drive floods. The high cost of propane,
LPG, or enriched hydrocarbon gas dictated that these
solvents be injected as slugs, which usually were driven
with natural gas. Flue gas and nitrogen also have been
found to achieve dynamic miscibility at high pressures
with some oils by the vaporizing-gas drive mechanism.
Hydrocarbon miscible processes have received extensive field testing since the 1950's, primarily in the U.S.
and Canada. More than 100 projects were initiated during this time period. \-9 The majority were small-scale
pilot tests involving one or at most a few injection wells;
however, a number of large projects were undertaken involving several thousand acres or more (> 4 X 10 6 m 2 ).
A few projects tested flue-gas injection.
Recent miscible flooding interest in the U.S. has
centered on the CO 2 process, although use of CO 2 for
oil recovery is not a recent idea. Research dates to the
early 1950's. CO 2 has several advantages compared
with hydrocarbon solvents or flue gas. It often achieves
dynamic miscibility at a significantly lower pressure than
natural gas or flue gas, so more reservoirs can be
815

SINGLE LIQUID

3600

PHASE

3200

100 VOL % C02

2800

REGION OF UPPER LIQUID IUL)

;ff:

o
o

'"

AND LOWER LIQUID ILL)

in

6 MULTIPLE CONTACT POINTS

.3 2400

SINGLE CONTACT POINTS

a::

:::J

gJ
w

2000

a::
a.

0% V

1600

REGION OF UL. LL. GAS

1200

0% Ul
90

80

800

70

60 50

'----I--.--'l--REGION OF LL AND GAS

40 30 20 10

VOLUME PERCENT
LOWER LIQUID PHASE

20

40

60

80

100

MOLE PERCENT C02 ADDED

100 VOL %
100 VOL %
C
L...L--"-----'''-------8.>L-_''----''-_'''--''-_-''-----''-~
C

Fig.1-Pressure vs. CO 2 concentration phase diagram for

Wasson crude at 105F (after Ref. 19).

Fig. 2-Composite ternary diagram for the C0 2 IWasson crude

system at 2,000 psi a and 105F (after Ref. 19).

miscibly flooded with CO 2 than with these other gases.

In addition, both the supply and cost of CO 2 may be
more favorable in the future than for hydrocarbon miscible solvents. This is because large quantities are
available from natural deposits. 10, II Engineering studies
show that CO 2 from some of these deposits can be
developed and transported to favorably located oil fields
by pipeline at acceptable costs. II There has been
moderate field testing so far of CO 2 -miscible
flooding. 10
There are about 40 projects of all types currently active. 12 Total production rate attributable to miscible
flooding probably is more than 100,000 BID (16000
m 3 /d) worldwide.

0.83 g/cm 3); and 3,500 psi (24.1 MPa) is about the
lower limit for miscibility pressure, which may be
substantially higher than this. Phase relations with flue
gas or nitrogen are more unfavorable for dynamic
miscibility than for methane, causing a higher miscibility
pressure, although the pressure increase may be small
with some oils of high saturation pressure. 14,15
The mechanism by which CO 2 achieves dynamic
miscibility is not thoroughly understood at this time. The
bulk of evidence to date indicates that a vaporizing-gas
drive mechanism prevails when reservoir temperature is
greater than about 120F (49C). 1618 However, CO 2 is
a much more powerful vaporizer of hydrocarbons than
natural gas or flue gas. Hydrocarbons as heavy as the
gasoline and gas/oil fractions are vaporized into the CO 2
front in addition to intermediate-molecular-weight
hydrocarbons, and, because of this, development of
vaporizing-gas drive miscibility with CO 2 can occur
with little or no C 2 through C 6 components present in
the crude oil. 18
At temperatures lower than about 120F (49C) the
situation becomes more complex. 17 ,19,20 This is illustrated by the pressure-composition diagram of Fig. 1.
At pressures higher than about 1,600 psi (11.0 MPa) for
this particular CO 2 /oil system, two liquid phases coexist
in the multiphase region rather than the gas/liquid
equilibrium typical of vaporizing-gas drive systems. At
pressures between about 1, 150 and 1,400 psi (7.9 and
9.7 MPa), three phases can be in equilibrium-two liquids and a gas. This type phase behavior has been
reported in the literature several times. 11,19,21,22
Gardner et al. 19 experimentally determined pseudoternary diagrams to investigate the liquid/liquid and threephase regions of Fig. 1. Their diagrams are shown in
Figs. 2 and 3. At 2,000 psi (13.8 MPa), Fig. 2, two liquid phases are in equilibrium. For phase behavior of the
type shown in this figure, dynamic miscibility can be
achieved in a manner analogous to the vaporizing-gas
drive miscibility for gas/liquid phase behavior.

Technical State of the Art

Phase Behavior and Miscibility
Phase behavior requirements and mechanisms for
achieving miscibility in the hydrocarbon processes were
generally recognized by the late 1950's. Hutchinson and
Braun 13 described how multiple-contact miscibility was
achieved in the vaporizing-gas and condensing-gas drive
processes and discussed the factors affecting miscibility
for all the hydrocarbon processes. Pseudotemary
diagrams and pressure-composition diagrams were
shown to be useful ways for representing the phase
behavior of these systems.
Miscibility between solvent and driving gas normally
determines the minimum pressure required for firstcontact miscibility. Miscibility pressures generally range
from about 1,100 to 1,900 psi (7.6 to 13.1 MPa).
Condensing-gas drive miscibility depends on oil composition, enriched-gas composition, pressure, and
temperature. Miscibility pressure typically is in the range
of 1,500 to 3,000 psi (10.3 to 20.7 MPa) for oils of
30 API gravity (0.88 g/cm 3) or higher.
Vaporizing-gas drive miscibility with natural gas
depends on oil composition, temperature, and pressure.
High-gravity oils are required, generally >40 API
816

JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY

100 VOL % C02

LEGEND
U . FLUX, 8/0/FT2

SINGLE CONTACT POINTS

l!:.

i< 0 . VISCOSITY CP

MULTIPLE CONTACT POINTS

X . LENGTH. FT

100

Y HEIGHT. FT

- PLAIT POINT

K
tlp

80

PERMEABILITY, MD
SOLVENT -OIL DENSITY
DIFFERENCE. GM CC

60

I-- III - - 1 - - - IV - - - M

40

65

=====r::======-

~=::-I~I
CRUDE
100VOl%~~~~dL~__~~__~~~~__~100VOl%

10

100

III

27

---~
1000

VISCOUS/GRAVITY FORCE RATIO

IV-

10,000
2050

100.000

u~o' x
K 0tlp Y

Fig. 3-Composite ternary diagram for the CO 2 /Wasson crude

system at 1,350 psia and 105F (after Ref. 19).

Fig. 4-Flow regimes in a two-dimensional, uniform linear

system.

Hydrocarbons are extracted from the oil into the

COz-rich liquid phase to create a miscible transition
zone.
Fig. 3 shows data at 1,350 psi (9.3 MPa), a pressure
where three phases were found in equilibrium on the
pressure-composition diagram. The pseudoternary
diagram hypothesized from these data shows four
subregions: three two-phase regions and one three-phase
region. Although slim-tube displacement experiments
showed that dynamic miscibility could be achieved at
this pressure, the exact mechanism has not been defined
clearly. A combination of vaporizing-gas drive and
condensing-gas drive mechanisms is suggested by the
phase behavior depicted in Fig. 3, but more work is
needed to verify or disprove this concept.
Miscibility pressure for some oils with CO 2 is as low
as 1,200 psi (8.3 MPa) , and miscibility pressure increases with increasing reservoir temperature and
decreasing oil gravity. 11,23 As a rough rule of thumb,
reservoirs deeper than about 2,500 ft (762 m) containing
oils of 28 API or higher (0.89 g/cm 3 or lower) should
be evaluated as potential candidates for CO 2 miscible
flooding.

displacement is still characterized by a single gravity

finger, but vertical sweepout becomes independent of the
value of the ratio until a critical value is exceeded.
Beyond this critical value, a transition region is encountered (Region III), where secondary fingers form
beneath the main gravity tongue. In this region sweepout
for a given value of PV injected increases sharply with
increasing values of the viscous/gravity ratio. Finally, a
value of viscous/gravity ratio is reached where the
displacement is entirely dominated by viscous fingering,
and vertical sweepout again becomes independent of the
viscous/gravity ratio (Region IV). The value of
viscous/gravity ratio at which transition occurs from one
flow region to another depends on the mobility ratio. 24
There are considerable published areal sweepout data
for flow dominated by viscous fingers 25-29 and some
vertical sweepout data for Region I and II flow
dominated by gravity tonguing. 30,31 There are few
published data for volumetric sweepout. 30 Data are
limited also for slug processes,32 tertiary recovery, 33
and dynamic miscible displacement. 34
Although several methods have been researched for
improving mobility ratio and, consequently, the
sweepout of horizontal miscible floods, 35-39 alternate injection of water and solvent currently is the only method
being practiced in the field. 40 Even when gravity causes
the solvent and water to segregate partially, laboratory
experiments 4I and reservoir simulations 42 ,43 both show
that improved sweepout may result still from alternate
solvent/water injection. Solvent/water injection may
also be of benefit in tertiary-recovery flooding, even
though injection of more water into rock where the oil
saturation has already been driven to its residual value,
intuitively may seem counterproductive. 42,43 There have
been many field projects where operators reported that
solvent/water injection was beneficial in moderating produced GOR after solvent and drive-gas breakthrough. 44 -52 Mobility of the solvent/water region was
measured directly in a recent field test and found to be
about as low as the mobility of drive water in the
preceding waterflood. 53 A potential disadvantage of solvent/water injection is trapping of oil by water if overin-

Sweepout
Solvents typically are less dense and less viscous than
reservoir oils. Laboratory research and field testing have
shown that gravity tonguing and viscous fingering are
more severe than in waterflooding because of these properties. As a result, sweepout usually is poorer than in
waterflooding for equivalent PV of fluid injected.
Sweepout depends on mobility ratio and on the ratio of
viscous (horizontal) and gravity (vertical) forces. Four
flow regimes are possible in the vertical cross section,
depending on the viscous/gravity force ratio.24 This is
shown schematically in Fig. 4.
At very low values of viscous/gravity force ratio
(Region I), the displacement is characterized by a single
gravity tongue or finger overriding the oil. The geometry
of this finger and vertical sweepout depend on the particular viscous/gravity ratio of the displacement. At
higher values of viscous/gravity ratio (Region II), the
APRIL

1983

817

jection of water should cause a high water saturation at

the miscible displacing front. This potential effect should
be evaluated carefully in selecting a solvent/water injection ratio.
Factors that affect CO 2 mobility are not completely
resolved at this time. Considering viscosity alone, a
substantially unfavorable mobility ratio would be expected in CO 2-miscible flooding. However, the complex CO 2/oil phase behavior that has been reported at
relatively low reservoir temperatures raises the possibility of precipitation of liquid and/or solid phases in the
CO 2/oil transition zone that might reduce CO 2 mobility
below the level anticipated from normal viscosity and
relative permeability relations. Some laboratory flow experiments are published that indicate reduced mobility in
the multi phase region. 54 Lower-than-expected CO 2 injectivity was reported in several field tests,52.55 but
whether the field test behavior was caused only by a
near-well permeability reduction or whether it was
caused by a reduced CO 2 mobility throughout the swept
region has not been established conclusively. This is one
of the more important technical issues in CO 2 flooding
left to be resolved. Unnecessary injection of water or
overinjection, if some water should be required, not only
increases the complexity and expense of field operation
but also decreases injectivity unnecessarily and
lengthens project life. Also, water overinjection conceivably could trap some oil and render it inaccessible to
the CO 2 ,
Data reported by Giraud 34 indicate that two-phase
flow in the miscible transition zone of a vaporizing-gas
drive can also reduce gas permeability and mobility
below that expected for a first-contact miscible solvent.
Densities of oil and CO 2 are similar at many reservoir
conditions, which tends to minimize segregation between these fluids in reservoirs that have not been
waterflooded. In reservoirs that have been waterflooded
or have had water injected with CO 2 to counteract the
effects of viscosity ratio and permeability stratification,
the density contrast between water and CO 2 may cause
segregation. 42,43
Unit Displacement Efficiency
Under some conditions all the oil may not be displaced
from a given volume of rock even though the solvent
composition and pressure are sufficient for miscibility
and even though the rock has been completely swept by
solvent. This undisplaced oil left in the solvent-swept
rock is analogous to the microscopic residual oil left after
waterflooding. In addition to subtracting from total oil
recovery, miscible-flood residual oil may cause reduced
solvent injectivity but an improved mobility ratio compared with complete oil displacement. The causes for a
miscible-flood residual oil saturation are primarily (1)
trapping of oil by mobile water at water saturations
above the irreducible value, (2) bypassing of oil located
in dead-end pores and low-permeability occlusions that
are not flushed by solvent, and (3) precipitation of
hydrocarbons during vaporizing-gas drive or CO 2
flooding as a result of mixing into multiphase regions.
Laboratory tests have shown that in some water-wet
sandstones mobile water can trap and shield part of the
oil from a miscible solvent. 56-60 Reservoir simulations
show that this trapping can significantly reduce oil
818

recovery if water is overinjected during alternate solvent/water injection. 43 Several studies with reservoir
rocks, however, have found little or no trapping of oil
caused by mobile water, at least for the water saturations
investigated, perhaps because of the mixed wettability of
these reservoir rocks. 49,57,61,62 Nevertheless, evaluation
of potential oil trapping is advisable if alternate solvent/water injection is planned.
Oil can be bypassed by miscible solvents because of
dead-end pore structure and because of microscopic-tomacroscopic permeability heterogeneities. Several
publications have shown the effect of laboratory corescale heterogeneities in carbonate cores. 62 ,63 There are
no data published so far showing a significant effect of
this sort in sandstones. Bypassed oil saturations ranging
from 0.13 to 25 % PV were reported for a series of cores
from one carbonate reservoir. 62 However, for reservoir
times and rates, some of the oil located in core-scale
heteroeneities may subsequently be recovered by diffusion. 6 Techniques are not well developed for determining the amount of oil that may be permanently bypassed
because of pore structure.
Gardner et al. 19 published calculations showing that
the magnitude of residual oil saturation caused by liquid
precipitation in CO 2 floods depends on the size of the
multi phase region and on the degree of fluid mixing during the displacement. This should be true for vaporizinggas drives as well.
There have been several field tests published where oil
saturations left behind solvent fronts were determined by
coring. A core taken 100 ft (30.5 m) from an injector in
the Seeligson condensing-gas drive flood showed good
permeability zones of this sandstone were essentially
swept clean of oil. 64 A pressure core taken behind the
enriched-gas front at South Swan Hills found an average
7.9% PV oil saturation in this carbonate formation. 65
Pressure cores taken in the Mead-Strawn sandstone
behind a CO 2 flood at distances of 50 and 100 ft (15.2
and 30.5 m) from an injection well had average oil
saturations of 10 and 5% PV stock-tank oil,66 and a
pressure core taken 35 ft (10.7 m) from a CO 2 injector in
the San Andres carbonate formation of west Texas found
oil saturations that varied from 3 to 30% PV stock-tank
oil. 67
Process Design Variations
Miscible floods have been designed for continuous solvent injection, for solvent slugs driven by a miscible gas,
and for solvent slugs driven by water. In addition, many
process designs have called for alternate water injection
for mobility ratio improvement, either with the drive gas
alone or with both the solvent slug and drive gas.
Essentially all first-contact miscible projects have used
relatively small slugs of LPG, approximately 1 to 12 %
hydrocarbon pore volume (HCPV), driven by natural
gas. Laboratory research has shown that mixing of
oil/solvent/drive gas by dispersion,68 aggravated by
viscous fingering, gravity tonguing, and channeling
caused by stratification, can rapidly dilute small solvent
slugs to concentrations that are no longer miscible. 69
Fingering can also cause drive gas to physically breach a
solvent slug and directly contact oil, with which it is
immiscible. 26
Condensing-gas drive projects typically have used
JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY

larger slugs than in first-contact miscible flooding,

usually greater than 10% HCPV and driven by natural
gas. This is partly because the enriched-gas slug is less
concentrated in intermediate hydrocarbons and partly to
withstand fingering better. There have been several
gravity-stable condensing-gas drive projects in pinnacle
reefs where gravity was used to advantage to prevent
viscous fingering. 70,71 In these projects a primary design
consideration was to size the enriched-gas slug to withstand dilution caused by dispersion and reservoir
heterogeneities.
Continuous injection has been the rule in vaporizinggas drive projects, with produced gases being compressed and reinjected.
The trend in CO 2 flood projects has been to drive
relatively large CO 2 slugs of 15 % HCPV or greater with
water. The objective here is to improve miscible
sweepout by achieving a favorable mobility ratio at the
trailing edge of the slug. The disadvantage of this
method, of course, is that the displacement of CO 2 by
water is immiscible, and a residual CO 2 saturation is left
in the reservoir. There has been at least one project
where CO 2 was driven by a miscible gas. 52 The
magnitude of oil recovery improvement attained by
miscible-gas drive over water drive and whether or not
this improvement justifies the added expense of the drive
gas are issues that are not completely resolved at this
time.

Field Test Behavior

First-Contact Miscible Projects
There have been more than 50 field tests of this method,
the majority being conducted in the 1950's and 1960's.
Most were small pilot tests involving one or at most a
few injection wells and with test sizes varying from
several tens to several hundred acres (50000 to 10 6
m 2 ), although a few projects were fieldwide in scope
and involved several thousand acres. Most tests were in
sandstones and most were secondary-recovery floods.
The majority of projects were in reservoirs that were
essentially horizontal; however, there have been several
gravity-stable floods in pinnacle reef reservoirs. 8,9,63,72
Solvent slug sizes were primarily in the I to 12 % HCPV
range. Oil gravities have ranged from 30 to 51 API
(0.88 to 0.78 g/cm 3) with the majority between 36 and
42 0 API (0.84 and 0.82 g/cm 3).
Field experience in secondary-recovery tests has
shown that the process will displace oil in reservoirs containing an initial gas saturation and bank oil into a secondary oil bank.73-75 Response resembles the response to
waterflooding - decreasing GaR's and increasing oil
productivity when the secondary oil bank arrives at producing wells. In most projects in horizontal reservoirs,
rapid breakthrough of both solvent and lean hydrocarbon
drive gas occurred, such as the Pembina and Bisti tests
where solvent breakthrough was detected after injection
of about 0.1 HCPV of fluids. 76,77 Often, oil bank, solvent, and drive-gas breakthrou~hs have occurred within
a short time of each other. 4 ,73 In some projects a
substantial fraction of the LPG was produced. Alternate
injection of water and lean gas slugs was believed to
slow the rate of GaR increase after breakthrough in
some projects. 44,45
Craig 2 compared recoveries from both LPG and
0

APRIL

1983

condensing-gas drive projects with recovery expected for

immiscible dry-gas injection, and, of 31 projects analyzed, he concluded that about 22 % had recovered an incremental volume four times greater than the volume of
solvent slug, while incremental recovery did not even
equal the solvent slug volume in 26% of the projects. No
difference was found between LPG and rich-gas drive
projects.
There are only a few published attempts to compare
performance of secondary recovery first-contact miscible
flooding proiects with anticipated waterflood performance. 44 ,45,18 In these instances the miscible floods
were believed to have recovered from 8 to 35 % more oil
than would have been achieved by primary production
followed by waterflooding.
Ultimate recovery for the Wizard Lake gravity-stable
flood is anticipated to be about 84% OOIP. 63 ,72 By late
1980, oil recovery had reached 61 % OOIP, about equal
to the recovery expected for continued primary depletion
by immiscible gas expansion and water drive.
Floods in waterflooded or partially waterflooded reservoirs give a relatively direct measure of incremental
recovery over waterflooding. Table I summarizes results
of seven tests of this type where data are available from
publications. 80-85 Slug sizes ranged from 4 to 12 %
HCPV, and incremental recovery actually measured at
the time the project analysis was published ranged from
3.7 to 13.5% OOIP at discovery. In one project incremental recovery was projected by decline-curve
analysis ultimately to be as high as 34% OOIP. Oil
recovered per gross barrel of LPG injected varied from
about 0.5 to 1.5 STB/RB (1.5 stock-tank m 3/res m 3),
and although data were not always available on LPG
production and recovery, ratios of oil recovered per net
barrel of LPG injected were in the range of 1 to 2
STB/RB (l stock-tank m 3!res m 3) for the few tests
where this information was available.
All the tertiary recovery tests of Table I except in the
Phegly Unit were relatively small pilot tests involving at
the most a few injection wells. The entire 785-acre (3.2
x 10 6 m 2) Phegly Unit was flooded through II injection wells, and because of its size, this test may have the
greatest validity. 82 Incremental recovery was 3.7 %
OOIP for the 4 % HCPV LPG slug driven by alternate
lean-gas/water injection.
Breakthrough behavior for solvent and lean gas was
generally similar to the behavior found in secondaryrecovery floods. Rapid breakthroughs were typical, and
often both solvent and drive gas appeared at producing
wells almost simultaneously with first response of tertiary oil or at least shortly thereafter. 81-84
Field test conditions were too varied to establish
anything but the roughest of correlations between slug
size and performance. Fig. 7 shows incremental
recovery vs. slug size for the tertiary-recovery tests.
Secondary-recovery tests at Pembina and Millican fields
performed poorly with slugs of I to 3 % HCPV and 1.5 %
HCPV, respectively. From the bulk of field experience,
a slug size of 4 to 5 % HCPV seems to be about the
minimum required for prudent design.

Condensing-Gas Drive Projects

There have been at least 19 condensing-gas
projects. 9,46-49,64,70,71,86-90 A few began in the
819

TABLE 1-FIRST-CONTACT MISCIBLE TERTIARY RECOVERY TESTS

Oil
Oil
Viscosity
Year
Type
Gravity Viscosity
Ratio
Depth Thickness
~_F_iel:-:-d-,----- _O_pe_ra_to_r _St_art_e_d --=-=-P_ro'-:ciec_t-,-,-,-- (OAPI) ~ ~ ~ _(_11)_
Burkett Unit
Phillips
1958
LPG~G~W
42
25
2,100
30

Area
(acres)
10

Slug
Size'
(% HCPV)
10

Incremental
Recovery'
(%OOIP)

OillGross Slug Oil/Net Slug

(STB/RB)
(STB/RB)

7.0

0.67

(KS)

Johnson

Ohio

1958

37

1.1

18

4,600

10

164

5.5

5 to 34"

Atlantic

1959

35

40

2,400

32

10

7.5

11.5

>0.9

(NE)

South Ward

1.5

2.2

(TX)

Adena Clar A
(CO)
Adena Hough
A (CO)
Hibberd Pool
South
Cuyama
(CA)
Phegly Unit

Union

1962

44

0.42

6.5

5,500

28

0.46

2.2

Union

1963

44

0.42

6.5

5,500

28

80

12.5

0.6

1.2

Atlantic

1963

35

1.7

23

4,300

60

80

7.4

Mobil

1964

37

30

4.900

785

13.5

1.6

3.7

0.85

>3

*Treated area .
Ultimate estimated from decline-curve analysis.

mid-1950's, but the majority of projects started during

the 1960's and early 1970's.
Most of these tests were larger in scope than the bulk
of first-contact miscible tests, often involving hundreds
or occasionally thousands of acres. Some examples of
relatively large floods in horizontal reservoirs include
Seeligson [877 acres (3.5 X 10 6 m 2)]64 and Lilliedoll
[640 acres (2.6 x 10 6 m 2)] 90 in sandstones, and Ante
Creek [6,000 acres (24 X 10 6 m 2)), 47 South Swan Hills
[830 acres (3.4 x 10 6 m 2)), 49 and Levelland [1,190
acres (4.8 X 10 6 m 2)]48 in carbonates.
The condensing-gas drive projects have been
secondary-recovery floods predominantly. Oil gravities
ranged from 30 to 50 API (0.88 to 0.78 g/cm 3), and oil
viscosities generally have been less than about 2 cp
(0.002 Pa' s). Slug sizes have ranged from 2 to > 50 %
HCPV and were > 10% HCPV in the majority of
projects.
Gravity-stable displacements in reefal buildups have
been an important aspect of condensing-gas drive field
experience. Examples include Golden Spike 70 and
various pools of the Rainbow field,9,71 all in Alberta,
Canada, and the Intisar D reef in Libya. 79,92,93
The Ante Creek, South Swan Hills, Levelland, Central Mallet, 91 Intisar D,79 and Rainbow field projects
were still active in 1981. Most of these projects were 7 to
13 years old at that time.
The character of response to enriched-gas injection has
been similar to that observed in first-contact miscible
floods. In secondary-recovery floods, GOR decreases as
the secondary oil bank arrives at producing wells and
then increases as solvent and drive gas break through.
Limited tertiary recovery testing shows the process will
displace waterflood residual oil to producing wells. 90,91
Rapid breakthroughs generally have been observed in
horizontal floods - after only 0.05 HCPV of injection at
South Swan Hills and Levelland. Average breakthrough
sweepout at Seeligson was about 23 %. Gas production
after breakthrough was moderated in some projects by
alternate injection of enriched-gas and water. 46,48,49
There has been a considerable range in observed/
estimated incremental oil recovery for condensing-gas
drive projects. From calculations and comparisons with
waterfloods in similar reservoirs, the 52 % HCPV slug
injected in the Seeligson secondary-recovery project was
820

estimated to have recovered 5 to 10% OOIP.64 On the

other hand, operators of the South Swan Hills and
Levelland secondary-recovery projects used reservoir
simulators to project incremental recoveries of 20 and
27% OOIP for slug sizes of approximately 15%
HCPV. 48 ,49 A later comparison of South Swan Hills
performance with waterfloods in similar fields did not
contradict the original projections. 65 A somewhat lower
recovery is anticipated currently for Levelland as a result
of recent, unpublished studies. The South Swan Hills
and Levelland floods are no more than half completed,
and it remains to be seen whether or not the projections
will be achieved.
Results are available also from several tertiaryrecovery tests. Incremental recovery in the Central
Mallet pilot test is 6 % OOIP after injection of about 20 %
HCPV slug. 91 Incremental recovery varied considerably
among the four patterns ultimately flooded at Lilliedoll
with a 15% HCPV slug, ranging from 0.2 to 1.6
STB/gross RB (0.2 to 1.6 stock-tank m 3/gross res m 3)
of enriched-gas injected and averaging 0.8 STB/RB (0.8
stock-tank m 3Ires m 3).90, *
Generally, the gravity-stable floods in the Canadian
pinnacle reefs appear to be performing satisfactorily, and
operator evaluations have ranged from "promising" to
"successful. ,,9 Projections made with a reservoir
simulator indicate that ultimate recovery for the Intisar D
reef in Libya could be 70% OOIP, or nearly 20 to 30%
OOIP higher than would be achieved by waterflooding. 79 The Golden Spike flood in Canada was not successful. Performance was severely affected by
permeability barriers to vertical flow that were unsuspected when the project was begun but discovered
later by infill drilling. A subsequent analysis showed the
7.8% HCPV slug had only increased ultimate recovery
by about 3 % OOIP. 70

Vaporizing-Gas Drive Projects

At least 11 projects of this type can be identified in the
literature. They typically have been large-scale floods involving thousands of surface acres. 94 ,96-104 Eight projects had more than 3,000 acres (12 X 10 6 m'2) under
flood, 94,96-100, 102, 103, 105 and as many as 22,600 acres
'Previously unpublished data. ARCO Oil & Gas Co. (1972).

JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY

TABLE 2-RESULTS FROM SELECTED CO 2 FLOOD TESTS

Project
SACROC main flood
Phases I and II
SAC ROC tertiary
pilot
Willard Wasson
Slaughter Estate
Twofreds
Little Creek' ,
Levelland 736

Incremental
Recovery
(%OOIP)
7'

Gross
C0 2 /0il Ratio
(Mcf/STB)

Slug Size
(% HCPV)

Breakthrough
(% HCPV)

12 to 15

2 to 5

10 to 18

3.5

15 to 20

20
26

10'
10 to 15

25 and
increasing
160
50 and
increasing

8 to 12'
18 and
increasing
3 and
increasing
18
6 and
increasing

5 to 7*
5 and
decreasing
26

15
15 to 20

6 to 7*

24
29 and
decreasing

Calculated with miscible flood simulators utilizing test data.

"Based On total HCPV in test area including pinchout volume.

(91.5 X 10 6 m 2) are being flooded in the Fairway field

in east Texas. 96 Many of these projects have also been
operated for a long period of time. Six of the currently
active floods are more than 10 years old, three are more
than 14 years old, and the Block 31 flood has been in
operation for 29 years. All published vaporizing-gas
drive projects to date have tested secondary recovery.
Oil gravity typically was >40 API 0.83 g/cm 3).
For those projects where assessments by the operator
are available, the majority are considered to have performed successfully. 6,9,94,96-99 Exceptionally high
ultimate recoveries will be achieved in several projects.
Recovery of more than 50% OOIP has been attained in
the Block 31 94 and Raleigh floods, 101 and this level of
recovery may be met or exceeded at Fairway. 96 An
ultimate recovery greater than 50% OOIP has been projected in at least three other projects. 102-104 Estimates of
incremental recovery over waterflooding are not
available. Some projects were in reservoirs that were not
considered particularly good candidates for waterflooding because of low permeability and low water injectivity. Floods that were considered successful by the project
operator have been conducted in highly stratified carbonate and sandstone reservoirs as well as in less
heterogeneous reservoirs.
Continuous injection of solvent is an important difference between the vaporizing-gas drive field trials and
the condensing-gas and first-contact miscible field trials.
This is perhaps the single most important reason for the
relative success of vaporizing-gas drive floods. Because
solvent is injected continuously, there is no loss of
miscibility caused by breakdown of a small solvent slug,
and miscibility cannot be lost unless pressure at the gas
front falls below miscibility pressure. Overall viscosity
ratio between oil and driving gas has been more
favorable on average in vaporizing-gas drive floods than
in other hydrocarbon-miscible projects because higher
API gravity oils are required for miscibility, and this undoubtedly has also contributed to the relative success of
vaporizing-gas drive floods.
Alternate injection of water to reduce mobility ratio
was practiced in at least four projects 95,96,98, 100 and was
considered by the project operator to have a beneficial
effect on flood performance in three of these. 96,98,100
0

APRIL

1983

CO 2 Miscible Projects
There have been at least 36 tests of this process in the
U.S., and in early 1982 there were at least 28 active projects. With one exception, all were started in the 1970's
and 1980's. 5,6,9,12,50-52,55,66,91,106-117 Most projects
were small-scale tests of less than 100 acres (405 000
m 2), although three were large enough to be considered
commercial-size floods rather than pilot tests. 50,55,108
Unlike the hydrocarbon-miscible processes, the majority
of CO 2 floods have tested tertiary recovery. Two of the
largest floods, however, are predominantly secondaryrecovery floods: SAC ROC [33,000 acres (133 x 10 6
m 2)]50 and Crossett [1,700 acres (6.9 X 10 6 m 2)].55
CO 2 was injected continuously or in very large slugs
in at least five projects, similar to continuous injection of
the high-pressure l1;as solvent in vaporizing-gas drive
projects. SS, 106,108, ITo,114 Moderate slug sizes were injected in the other projects, but in most of these tests no
attempt was made to achieve miscible displacement at
the trailing edge of the slug. 50 ,51,66,109,1l1-113 Instead,
the CO 2 slug was immiscibly driven with water, leaving
a residual CO 2 saturation in the reservoir. Alternate injection of water with the CO 2 slul1; was tried in about
half the projects. IO ,50-52,91,107,111-IT3 Most floods have
been in low-relief, essentially horizontal reservoirs,
although two projects were carried out in high-relief
reservoirs and were designed to be gravity-stable. 110,114
Projects have been about equally divided between sandstone and carbonate formations. Oil gravities generally
have been in the range of 30 to 50 API (0.78 to 0.88
g/cm 3) with viscosities less than 2 cp (2 mPas).
Field trials have shown that C02 miscible flooding is
a method for both secondary and tertiary oil recovery. At
Crossett, oil was displaced and banked by CO 2 flooding
in a reservoir that had been produced by solution-gas
drive and contained a free gas saturation at the start of
CO 2 injection. 55 The ability of CO 2 to displace and to
recover some of the residual oil left after waterflooding
has been demonstrated by such tertiary-recovery field
tests as the Little Creek, 106 SACROC, 109 and Slaughter
Estate pilot tests,52,91 and by the Twofreds project. 108
Most projects, both secondary- and tertiary-recovery
floods, have experienced early CO 2 breakthroughs,
usually after injection of 0.05 to 0.2 HCPV total fluid
821

20r--------.--------r--------r------~

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w
>

w
f-

aw

-,
~

60

x.<c--t-

50

~S

c'<?'

a a

40

-' f<{

a >
>=
cr: <{

30

:::; cr:

20

Cl-

z
f- w
z a
w

:::;

fZ

10

cr:

0
0

05

1.0

15

2.0

TOT AL HCPV INJECTED (C02' H2O)

Fig. 5-C0 2 production in field tests.

(i.e., C02 or CO 2 plus water). This is illustrated in Fig.

5, which also shows that CO 2 production immediately
after breakthrough generally has not been excessive.
Corrective measures such as alternate water injection,50,51 zonal isolation, 50 and reducing the injection
pressure 5I have been partially successful in moderating
CO 2 production. Nonetheless, ultimate production of a
significant fraction of the CO 2 slug should be anticipated, and facilities will be required for handling and
reinjecting the produced CO 2 , In some cases facilities
may be needed to extract the CO 2 from the total produced gas stream if the level of contamination would interfere with displacement efficiency.
Table 2 shows incremental oil recovery and gross
CO 2/oil ratio for selected field trials. In this table gross
CO 2/oil ratio is defined as the ratio of total CO 2 injected
(makeup plus recycle) to the incremental oil recovery.
Fig. 6 shows incremental oil production history for
selected CO 2 projects.
Incremental recovery has ranged from a low of about
3.5% OOIP to a high of about 18% OOIP. Gross
CO 2 /oil ratio has ranged from 5 to 26 scf/STB (890 to
4630 std m 3 / stock-tank m 3 ). The Slaughter Estate
tertiary-recovery pilot test has been by far the best performer. 52,91 Ultimate recovery for the 26% HCPV slug
in this 12-acre (48 600-m 2 ) test is 18% OOIP and increasing, while gross CO 2/oil ratio is about 5 Mcf/STB
(890 std m 3 / stock-tank m 3) and decreasing. In contrast,
ultimate recovery for the 80-acre (324 OOO-m 3)
SACROC tertiary recovery pilot test was only 3.5%
OOIP for a 10 to 18% HCPV slug at a gross CO 2/oil
ratio of 15 to 20 Mcf/STB (2670 to 3560 std m 3 / stocktank m 3 ). 109 CO 2/oil ratio will also be relatively high in
the Levelland No. 736, 1.5-acre (6070-m2) tertiaryrecovery test. CO 2 injected at Levelland currently
amounts to about 50% HCPV, but recovery is only 6%
OOIP. 91 The low recovery at Levelland for the large
slug size is attributed by the project operator to an unexpectedly low oil saturation in the thoroughly waterflooded pilot test location. All three tests were in stratified
carbonate formations.
The largest field trial to date, the SAC ROC main
flood, 50 was a secondary-recovery flood, and there was
822

I.
5

(20% SLUG)

"

/ ' . / " " LEVELLAND 736 (50% SLUG)

o'<<?'
".if.

/,

>!'"

, - WILLARD-WASSON (CALC.)

,/'

10

w w

cr:

-'

N~

cr: 0

'v\~

15

/,

SACROC TERTIARY PILOT

\i::

( 10-18% SLUG)

o~~~--~--------~------~------~

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

TOTAL HCPV INJECTED (C02+H20)

Fig. 6-lncremental oil production in CO 2 field tests.

no direct measure of incremental oil. Simulator projections, after history matching performance, indicated an
ultimate recovery of about 7% OOIP for slug sizes that
varied between 12 and 15% HCPV.
Incremental production for the selected projects shown
in Fig. 7 began after injection of about 0.1 to 0.2 HCPV
of total fluid. After a period of almost linear increase in
incremental recovery with cumulative injection, the
recovery curves bend over and gradually approach the
ultimate recovery value. As in hydrocarbon-miscible
floods, first incremental recovery in the tertiary-recovery
CO 2 floods has occurred either shortly before or coincidentally with C02 breakthrough, and the bulk of incremental oil is produced concurrently with the C02.
Lower-than-anticipated CO 2 injectivity has been
observed in a number of field trials. 52,55 This seems to
be particularly true in the low-temperature carbonate
reservoirs of west Texas. Lower-than-anticipated water
injectivity has also been observed when CO 2 and water
were injected alternately. 52 However, injectivity in the
Willard Wasson test, even with alternate injection of
CO 2 and water, did not deteriorate appreciably after fillup.51
Operating problems have been more severe than in
waterflooding, with corrosion, leaks, and scaling being
mentioned in addition to precipitation of a heavy
hydrocarbon from the crude occasionally being observed. Several excellent articles have been published
concerning operating practices in CO 2
floods. 50,51 ,55, 106, 118-121

Comparison of Processes
Incremental recovery and slug effectiveness in C02
floods are compared with these quantities from firstcontact and condensing-gas drive miscible floods in
Figs. 7 and 8 for selected projects where there are sufficient data to make the comparisons. Slug effectiveness is
defined here to be the incremental oil recovered per gross
reservoir barrel of miscible fluid injected. In condensinggas drive projects, the miscible fluid was considered to
be the lean gas/LPG mixture injected, rather than the
LPG only. Conceptually, for a given process in a given
reservoir, incremental recovery should increase and slug
JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY

30

a.

LEGEND:

25

";?

>-'

.?

a: 20
w

.?

0
()
w 15
a:

.?

>

.1

10

w
a:

()

RICHGAS DRIVE

C02 FLOOD
ESTIMATED FROM SIMULATIONS
OR COMPARISONS BUT NOT
MEASURED DIRECTLY
DIRECTION OF INCREASE

10

40

C)

50

FIRST CONT ACT MISCIBLE

RICHGAS DRIVE
C02 FLOOD
? ESTIMATED FROM SIMULATIONS
OR COMPARISONS BUT NOT
MEASURED DIRECTLY
1 DIRECTION OF INCREASE

a:cn

...JC)

~,

...J1n

-I-

30

LEGEND:

0
-In
~a:
:::la:

.
.-

20

.?

.?

FIRSTCONTACT MISCIBLE

.
.
.1 . .-

...J

I-

o~

60

70

150

160

O~--L---~--~--~--~--~--~~--~~

10

SLUG SIZE, % HCPV

20

30
40
50
60
SLUG SIZE, % HCPV

70

150

160

Fig. 7-lncremental recovery from miscibleflood field tests.

Fig. 8-Slug effectiveness in miscible-flood field tests.

effectiveness should decrease with increasing slug size,

and these concepts are roughly supported by Figs, 7
and 8.
It should be kept in mind that incremental recovery
and slug effectiveness depend on many other variables
besides slug size, such as reservoir heterogeneity,
temperature and pressure, crude oil composition, and
flow regime, to mention just a few. These conditions
varied widely between the tests shown in these figures,
which should introduce a substantial data-point scatter,
even for projects of a given process type, when results
are plotted as a function of slug size only, Comparisons
are further clouded because there is little overlap between slug sizes used in the first-contact miscible floods
and the other processes. Within the data scatter there is
no clear-cut evidence that on average a given process is
technically performing appreciably better or worse than
the others for a given slug size. This is not to say that one
process may not actually perform superior to the others
for given reservoir conditions, but no overall trend is evident in the composite field data.
The data of Fig. 8 suggest that enriched-gas slugs are
performing as effectively as would the same size firstcontact miscible slug. Admittedly the data to support this
conclusion are extremely limited, but if true, the LPG is
being utilized more effectively in the enriched-gas slugs
since they contain only 30 to 50% LPG.

esses, with production of the bulk of incremental oil concurrently with solvent and drive gas.
4. Greatest field trial success to date has been
achieved with the vaporizing-gas drive method, probably
because the miscible fluid has been injected continuously
rather than as a slug and because mobility ratio for these
floods has been more favorable on average. The process
has had limited application, however, because of the
high miscibility-pressure requirement.
5. A low miscibility-pressure requirement often is a
significant advantage of COrmiscible flooding. This
process could have significant future application in areas
with economical CO 2 supplies from natural deposits or
surface sources.
6. Incremental recovery ranged from about 3 to 20%
OOIP for 16 first-contact miscible, condensing-gas
drive, and CO 2 -flood projects where this quantity could
be estimated from field data. Slug sizes of the miscible
injection fluids in these projects ranged from 4 to 160%
HCPV, and with few exceptions incremental recovery
was less than 1 STB/ gross RB (1 stock-tank m 3 / gross res
m 3) of miscible fluid injected, even for the smallest slug
sizes.
7. Within the data scatter for these 16 projects, there is
no clear-cut evidence that on average one process has
performed appreciably better or worse than another for a
given slug size.

Conclusions
1. After 30 years' research, there is a considerable
body of knowledge concerning the mechanisms of
miscibility and fluid flow. Even so, advances are needed
in a number of important areas such as: improved
understanding oflow-temperature CO 2 -flood miscibility
and of the factors affecting CO 2 mobility; improved
understanding of sweepout for tertiary recovery, slug
processes, and dynamic miscibility; and improved
predictive methods and/or guidelines for slug processes
for selecting between a miscible and immiscible drive
fluid and for estimating optimal slug size.
2. All the miscible processes are applicable for both
secondary or tertiary recovery in sandstone or carbonate
reservoirs.
3. In horizontal floods, relatively early solvent and
drive-gas breakthroughs should be expected for all procAPRIL 1983

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JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY

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APRIL 1983

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826

119. Frey, R.P.: "Operating Practices in the North Cross CO 2

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SI Metric Conversion Factors

API
bbl
ep
ell ft
ft
of
psi
sq ft

141.5/(131.5+ API)
E-Ol
1.589 873
E-03
1.0*
E-02
2.831 685
E-Ol
3.048*
(OF-32)/1.8
x 6.894757
E+OO
E-02
x 9.290304*

x
x
x
x

*Conversion factor is exact.

g/ em 3
m3
Pa's
m3
m
C
kPa
m2
SPEJ

Original manuscript received in Society of Pelroleum Engineers office Aug. 31, 1981.
Paper accepted for publication Dec. 14, 1982. Revised manuscript received Feb. 9,
1983. Paper (SPE 9992) first presenled at the 1982 SPE IntI. Petroleum Exhibition
and Technical Symposium held in Beijing, China, March 18-26.

JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY