The effect of temperature and interfacial tension on water/oil relative permeabilities of consolidated sands

Conference · Sun Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1984 · Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6645150

Torabzabeh, S J; Handy, L L

Relative permeability data for high- and low-tension systems were obtained experimentally at temperatures ranging from 22/sup 0/C to 175/sup 0/C. No other data have been reported for high temperatures and low interfacial tensions. Results for high tension systems at elevated temperatures and for low-tension systems at room temperature are compared with other published data. The results of this study can be used to predict the performance and efficiency of enhanced oil recovery methods in which chemicals are considered for use with hot waterfloods or as steamflood additives. They are of particular interest with respect to steamfloods in viscous oil reservoirs. Equipment was designed and constructed to measure water-oil relative permeabilities at elevated temperatures and pressure. It can be used for both steady-state and unsteadystate dynamic displacement measurements. The apparatus permits very accurate measurement of fluid saturations volumetrically by monitoring the oil content of the total system using a high pressure, high temperature water-oil separator. Experiments were conducted on fired Berea sandstone cores using n-dodecane and 1% NaCl brine. Aqueous low-concentration surfactant solutions were used to change interfacial tension levels. For the experiments reported here, the fluid pressure was kept constant at 300 psig and the overburden pressure at 650 psig. The experimental results indicate that relative permeability curves are affected by temperature, especially at low IFT's. For the high-tension system, relative permeability to oil increased and relative permeability to water decreased at a given saturation while residual oil saturation decreased and irreducible water saturation increased with increasing temperature. Water/oil relative permeability ratio decreased with temperature at a given water saturation. These results suggest an increase in the preferential water wettability of sandstone with temperature.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Southern California
• OSTI ID: 6645150
• Report Number(s): CONF-840495-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States) Journal Volume: SPE/DOE 12689
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
DISPLACEMENT FLUIDS
ENERGY SOURCES
ENGINEERING
ENHANCED RECOVERY
FLUID INJECTION
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
HOT WATER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
OIL SATURATION
OIL WELLS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PERMEABILITY
PETROLEUM
RECOVERY
RESERVOIR ENGINEERING
RESERVOIR ROCK
ROCKS
SANDSTONES
SATURATION
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
STEAM INJECTION
SURFACE PROPERTIES
SURFACE TENSION
SWEEP EFFICIENCY
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS
THERMAL RECOVERY
WATER
WATER SATURATION
WATERFLOODING
WELLS
WETTABILITY