Dynamics of subcritical CO/sub 2//brine floods for heavy oil recovery

Conference · Fri Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1985 · Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5165901

Rojas, G; Faroug, S M

Immiscible carbon dioxide flooding is an important, field-proven heavy oil recovery method, particularly suited for thin, marginal, or otherwise poor heavy oil reservoirs, where thermal recovery processes are likely to be uneconomical. This paper describes dynamics of this recovery technique, based upon experiments conducted in a scaled model. The experiments represent a medium heavy oil (1032 mPa.s at 23/sup 0/ C) occurring in a shallow, thin sand. Carbon dioxide was injected at subcritical conditions (5.5 MPa, 21-23/sup 0/ C), together with brine. The scaled experiment results showed that oil recoveries at CO/sub 2/ and brine breakthroughs were ratedependent. While recovery at CO/sub 2/ breakthrough decreased with increasing rate, recovery at brine breakthrough increased. Reduction of interfacial tension between brine and oil, leading to the formation of brine-in-oil emulsions, was found to be an additional effective mechanism of heavy oil recovery by CO/sub 2//brine injection.

• Research Organization: U. of Oriente
• OSTI ID: 5165901
• Report Number(s): CONF-830512-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States) Journal Volume: SPE13598
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
BRINES
CARBON DIOXIDE INJECTION
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
DISPLACEMENT FLUIDS
ENGINEERING
ENHANCED RECOVERY
FLUID INJECTION
FLUIDS
MISCIBLE-PHASE DISPLACEMENT
OIL WELLS
OIL YIELDS
RECOVERY
RESERVOIR ENGINEERING
SCALE MODELS
STRUCTURAL MODELS
SWEEP EFFICIENCY
WELLS
YIELDS