Scale-Up of Near Miscible Gas Injection Processes: Integration of Laboratory Measurements and Compositional Simulation

Pande, Karan; Sheffield, J.M.; Emanuel, A.S.; Ulrich, R. L.; Zabala, E. F. De

doi:10.3997/2214-4609.201406935

Cited by 5 publications

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“…However, whilst the ability of numerical simulation to predict first contact miscible and immiscible displacements has been evaluated by comparison with experiment in a number of studies [2][3][4][5][6][7] , there are very few studies investigating the compositional simulation of multi-contact miscible experiments [8][9][10][11] . Moreover there are virtually no studies which use the simulator to predict both phase and flow behaviour directly from the experimental properties.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Experimental and Numerical Studies of Gas/Oil Multicontact Miscible Displacements in Homogeneous Porous Media

2005

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TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435. AbstractBoth vaporizing and condensing miscible gas floods are being conducted in a large number of reservoirs worldwide. The performance of these gas floods is usually determined via a combination of laboratory analysis and compositional simulation. However the ability of numerical simulation to correctly predict the progress of a multi-contact miscible displacement has not been fully verified.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental and Numerical Studies of Gas/Oil Multicontact Miscible Displacements in Homogeneous Porous Media

2005

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“…Certainly, the lure of a more-efficient recovery explains the interest in the miscible injection method. − However, it is often not economical, and sometimes not technically feasible, to inject a gas that is first-contact-miscible (FCM) with the oil. Instead, the injected gas is designed to develop miscibility by the net transfer of components from the oil into the gas (a vaporizing gas drive) or from the gas to the oil (a condensing gas drive).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First-Contact-Miscible and Multicontact-Miscible Gas Injection within a Channeling Heterogeneity System

Al-Wahaibi

2010

Energy Fuels

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Experimentally measured recoveries, gas cuts, and residual saturations, as well as visual observations, were used to quantify the effects of a channeling heterogeneity system on the efficiency and gas/oil nonequilibrium of first-contact-miscible (FCM) and multicontact-miscible (MCM) displacements. These experiments are the first of their type, because they have enabled a direct insight into the mechanisms of gas/oil flow occurring within such type of heterogeneities, and particularly have provided a firmer understanding of the MCM processes. The key finding in this work is the fact that the produced fluids in all MCM experiments were not in compositional equilibrium. The effect of channeling heterogeneity was to reduce mass transfer between the oil and MCM gas phases throughout the porous medium as a whole, thereby driving the system to be more submiscible and, as such, reducing the sweep and increasing the bypassing. These results were also reflected in the increase in nonequilibrium between gas and oil phases. This work has proved that the channeling heterogeneities, even with small permeability contrast, can distort FCM and MCM displacement patterns considerably. In addition, the results suggested that the performance of MCM processes decrease significantly as the injection rate increases. This was probably due to an interplay between capillary and viscous forces in the heterogeneous model, causing the gas at the highest rate to flow faster into the high permeability stripe, therefore resulting in a larger transition zone, shorter miscibility region, greater nonequilibrium, and, hence, a lesser-efficient flood. This study has important implications for the correct interpretation of core data, and for scale-up processes to reservoir scale, particularly for handling gas/oil nonequilibrium when modeling MCM displacements.

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“…Whilst the ability of numerical simulation to predict first contact miscible and immiscible displacements has been evaluated by comparison with experiment in a number of studies [3][4][5][6][7][8] , there are very few studies investigating the compositional simulation of multi-contact miscible experiments [9][10][11][12] . Moreover there are virtually no studies which use the simulator to predict both phase and flow behaviour directly from the experimental properties.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover there are virtually no studies which use the simulator to predict both phase and flow behaviour directly from the experimental properties. Most studies resort to some degree of history matching either to model the phase behaviour of multi-component hydrocarbons through the use of pseudocomponents [9][10][11][12] or to model the influence of unknown heterogeneities in the cores or rock slabs 9-12 . Certainly, the lure of a more efficient recovery explains the interest in the miscible injection method. However it is often not economic, and sometimes not technically feasible, to inject a gas that is first contact miscible with the oil.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanisms of Oil Recovery via Multi-Contact Miscible Gas Injection Process within Lensed Systems

Al-Wahaibi

Grattoni

2008

All Days

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The recovery of oil by injection of miscible gas has been a subject of interest and research in petroleum engineering over the past 40 years. In a first contact miscible displacement, the injected fluid forms only single-phase mixtures with oil in place, so in theory, 100% recovery can be achieved. Unfortunately, many phenomena conspire to limit the efficiency of the miscible flooding process including viscous fingering and permeability heterogeneity. One type of important heterogeneities that occur at the small scale is the lensed system. This is one of the most common sedimentary structures found in sandstone reservoirs and is almost universal. This paper investigates the physics of gas-oil multi-contact miscible (MCM) displacements within lensed porous media using a combination of well-characterized laboratory experiments and detailed numerical simulation. The aims were to: • quantify the recovery efficiency of MCM displacements conducted at different flow conditions, • provide a set of benchmark experimental data for MCM displacements performed within lensed porous media, and • validate conventional compositional simulation of MCM displacementsThe novel experimental studies were conducted in specially designed lens visual models packed with unconsolidated glass beads and used a two-phase three-component (IPA/water/cyclohexene) liquid system that exhibits an upper critical point at ambient conditions. First contact miscible (FCM), immiscible and MCM displacement experiments were performed. They were then simulated using a commercial compositional simulator with a single set of EOS parameters and without using history matching (all input data to the simulator were determined from independent experiments).The produced oil and gas in the experiments were found not to be in compositional equilibrium. This was observed in both homogeneous (as reported previously by Al-Wahaibi et al, 2005 1 ) and lens models. This indicates that nonequilibrium occurs at even smaller scales than the lensed structure. As a result, the oil recoveries and gas cuts predicted by compositional simulation for MCM displacements differed significantly from the experimental results, although an excellent match was obtained for the FCM and immiscible displacements.Further experiments investigating the effects of varying injection rates and gravity forces on the level of nonequilibrium observed in the produced fluids are described. Numerical simulation of these experiments provides additional insight into the physical mechanisms causing the nonequilibrium.The experiments performed in this study are the first of their kind as they report the significance of nonequilibrium on MCM process prediction and the influence of lens heterogeneities on MCM injection. This study has important implications for the correct interpretation of core data, and for scale-up processes to reservoir scale, particularly for handling gas/oil nonequilibrium when modelling MCM displacements.

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Scale-Up of Near Miscible Gas Injection Processes: Integration of Laboratory Measurements and Compositional Simulation

Abstract: Th is paper was selected for presentetion by Me Stee ring Commi ttee , fol iowing review of Information contained in en abstract subm itted by the author(s). The paper, as presented hes not been reviewed by the Steering Committee .

Cited by 5 publications

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Experimental and Numerical Studies of Gas/Oil Multicontact Miscible Displacements in Homogeneous Porous Media

Experimental and Numerical Studies of Gas/Oil Multicontact Miscible Displacements in Homogeneous Porous Media

First-Contact-Miscible and Multicontact-Miscible Gas Injection within a Channeling Heterogeneity System

Mechanisms of Oil Recovery via Multi-Contact Miscible Gas Injection Process within Lensed Systems

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