Low interfacial tension relative permeability

Conference · Fri Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1982 · Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5930744

Harbert, L W

Enhanced oil recovery processes that feature a near miscible process, CO/sub 2/ injected below the minimum miscibility pressure, or micellar fluids, require relative permeability data to calculate the flow behavior of the low interfacial tension (low IFT) fluids. The flow behavior of low IFT fluids differs from that of conventional gas and oil or water and oil; it depends upon IFT, viscosity, and flow rate as well as the rock properties of pore size distribution and wettability. The results of laboratory core tests using an alcohol, brine, and oil fluid system in outcrop and reservoir rock samples are presented. Both water and oil relative permeability curves were found to shift upward, indicating the 2 phases interfere less with each other as IFT is reduced. For a given reservoir rock type, the flow behavior is adequately characterized by a capillary number defined by combined (total) fluid velocity, average viscosity, and interfacial tension. It also was found that flow tests on representative reservoir rock samples are necessary to describe low interfacial tension relative permeability for field process performance calculations. 16 references.

• OSTI ID: 5930744
• Report Number(s): CONF-8310121-
• Journal Information: Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States), Journal Name: Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States) Vol. SPE-12171; ISSN SEAPA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
CAPILLARY FLOW
DRILL CORES
ENERGY SOURCES
ENHANCED RECOVERY
FLUID FLOW
FLUID INJECTION
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
MISCIBLE-PHASE DISPLACEMENT
MULTIPHASE FLOW
OIL WELLS
PERMEABILITY
PETROLEUM
RECOVERY
RESERVOIR ROCK
SURFACE PROPERTIES
SURFACE TENSION
VELOCITY
WELLS