WETTABILITY ALTERATION OF POROUS MEDIA TO GAS-WETTING FOR IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY AND INJECTIVITY IN GAS-LIQUID FLOWS

Technical Report · Mon Oct 15 04:00:00 EDT 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/834362· OSTI ID:834362

Firoozabadi, Abbas

The wettability of Berea and chalk samples for gas-oil and gas-water fluids were altered from strong liquid-wetting to intermediate gas-wetting. Two polymers, FC-722 and FC-759, were used to alter the wettability. FC-759 is soluble in water and some 20 times less expensive than FC-722. Gas and liquid relative permeabilities were measured before and after wettability alteration. The results demonstrate a significant increase in liquid-phase relative permeability. Gas-phase relative permeability for a fixed saturation may increase or decrease. However, because of the very high liquid mobility and reduced liquid saturation, the gas mobility also increases for a fixed pressure drop. A number of liquid injectivity tests were also carried out. The results reveal that the liquid-phase mobility can increase significantly when the wettability of rocks is altered from strong liquid-wetting to intermediate gas-wetting. All the results show clearly that the application of wettability alteration to intermediate gas-wetting may significantly increase deliverability in gas condensate reservoirs.

• Research Organization: Reservoir Engineering Research Institute (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: (US)
• DOE Contract Number: FC26-00BC15306
• OSTI ID: 834362
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
CALCITE
GAS CONDENSATES
PERMEABILITY
POLYMERS
PRESSURE DROP
PRODUCTIVITY
SATURATION
WATER
WETTABILITY