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Cycling with air and other nonhydrocarbon gases

Journal Article · · SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) Reserv. Eng.; (United States)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2118/13229-PA· OSTI ID:5635010
Injecting lean gas into condensate reservoirs is a practice currently used to increase recovery. The process reduces condensation and increases liquid recovery by revaporization. However, delaying natural gas sales for long periods of time is economically unattractive. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of nonhydrocarbon gases (i.e., air, N/sub 2/ and CO/sub 2/) for improving recovery from retrograde condensate reservoirs. A compositional model that uses the Peng-Robinson equation of state (PR-EOS) was developed to evaluate condensate reservoir performance. A 15-component hydrocarbon system and extensive experimental data were used in the study. The simulator was tuned to match the available experimental data. The model shows that nonhydrocarbon gases can vaporize hydrocarbon liquids effectively, with CO/sub 2/ the most effective nonhydrocarbon for vaporizing heavy fractions.
Research Organization:
Montana C. of Mineral Science and Technology
OSTI ID:
5635010
Journal Information:
SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) Reserv. Eng.; (United States), Journal Name: SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) Reserv. Eng.; (United States) Vol. 2:4; ISSN SREEE
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English