, .

HIGH VISCOSI~ OIL RECO~RY BY SOItU!l?ION

GAS-DRIVE .

x)
G.N.Aides

A9STELACT

mbcmtory tests conduoted!m a high visoos$ty oil

~r,a~n oil flold in Rumaniato investigatethe re~ove~ ~e~~-
by solutiongas drive for these partloularoils,haveshown
r.:ms (.
.’--

:Q$JVOrh8 to Increasewith increasi~ rate of pressure decline, ,

r.~LiO#ud
by n decreasein recoverywhile the rate continuesto
“;~:r~,toooi.e.
the existenceof a criticalrate of pressure
:asLir\o
at which&zd.mw recovery 18 obtained.This observation
!ir:fira
fromotherlaboratoryhrperimentson depletion by solu-
have indicatedonly an Incr”ease~n rectoveqy
t~oogm drive,which,
~ithincreasingratb of pressure“decline.
The above observationhas been explainedby a new so-
L’;tLon
gas drivemechanism.From this new mechanismit has been
that solutiongas &ive recoveries
:~ncluded for high viscosity
OIM mm low due to *he failure of aohievinga rate of pressure
$?clinewhich wou~d allow a great number of gas bubbles to be
:ormd in the porousmedium after the pressure has dropped
./.

Extractedfrom “Possibilitiesof improvingrecovery from high

viscosityoil resemoirs in the S.R.Rummia$’doctoralthesis
acceptedby the Petroleum!lecmologicalXnstltute,June 1967
Bucarest
,Rumania.
‘) ReseazchInstitutefor ‘DrlLMng and Froduction Cimpina ERQ
 .
.

a2-

~OLOWbubblepoint,rather*ban to oz~ propeti~e~.Contnaryto

SCIULvhitJ expressedso far~the PrOWEtleS of the crude oil -d
~~u UWA the capillw fosoes do not seem ‘tohave 6 marked ZtilU-
onuo OB the solutiongas d2~ve meO_8m. AS a result, the de-
~iotioD rwxhanlGmproposedherein aan not be quantitatively
eqrpooed by the known heterogeneousflow equations.
.
Reeoverlesexceedi% 5~ were obtained Zn these labo-
ratory oxperimezits
f’orthe criticalrate OS pressure decline~
i.o.ofthe 6ame order as the h$ghest waterflood.recoveries.

INTRODUCTION
Very few data have been reported
to raobvoryobtainablefrom high visoosity 011 reservoirsby
,
solutiongaa drive. In suah oases ultimate recoveriesare,
hosovor,known
%0 be very low as comparedto the ‘valuesobtained
lD the conventionaloil reservoirs,whereultimateprimary rec30-
vorionas Mgh as 3W may be obtaineL !lhus,forinstanoe,inthe
i~~g Sandy Fleld,U.S.A.
,containingcrude oil of 63 @p viscoai~,
araultimaterecoveryof only 97$could be obtained,10and in the
ilhtaand IaregsklFields,USSR,whioh initiallyproduced by so-
lU~iongas drive,the ultimaterecover~eswere about 5-8% 2; sub-
oo~uontlymining techniqueshave been applied to produce the
V4MQOU6011 from the Uh’taField. In the Howard “AB(Y’Rowland
k’tolds,USA,
where the ViSCOSl~ of the crude o$J la 48 cp,an ‘
ultimateprimaryrecove~ of 10.8$43 has been’esttiated.~d-
lctioncalculationsassuminglow Initial solution ratios c30mpa-
rableto those encounteredin high visooeA@ oil reservoirs,
— ./.
i f
 -3-
), f-

*..~’tit Ifi-!$aated values of the same order of magtitudeo+s~

ody a SIRIQ1
.~umber
Of labo~ato~ tests have been
~a::;o:OUt to investigatethe depletionxne~hanismof ~gh
tr~~:~aity cn?udeoils by Solutiongas drive. Thus, ~~ 6
.;~t:+ in MO Iaboratov te~~$ ‘keroseneand oil of 1.8 OP and
). O; rtwoct~vely+d
*J excefJsivelY~$h rates Of the Preseure
.
:6CM0 - cow-d to those en~oun*er*din a~~~al oil f*el*9
:WUC?XJd
-O COnCIUS*OM which are in ~sagr*ement tith those
;:Vuc tad by the eonventio~a~theom of th8 solution gas drive
s~si~titi~
:(a) oil secove~ increasesas the rate of production
t~:reQOeSfor a given oil viscosi~,and (b) oil recovery inore-
~~egWith increasiu o*1 ViS~OSi@Y for a given high rate of
~twJuotiono
The tirst oonolualonconfirmsthe results obtained
~~ Hotaotand Muskat 7 and subsequentlyby Steward 8 The ‘
r~oults obtainedby Handy were borne out by the experimerits
atihby Ridin&35 using a shcnhmodel,6 ft long,and two oils of
i ap md 20 op. RidZngshas &lso teated,bymeans of a long
=Jdol(173~t) Muskat theory 9 on solut$ongas drive mechanism
md developeda concept for the appl~~ationof this theory to ,
prediotthe behavio~rOX high viscosityoil tieservoi.rs
pro-
&Jc@ by solut%ongas dx%ve.
No laboratorye~eriments have been reportedto date
●

~ox?the investigationof the solut~ongas dr~ve meehanismfor

.highviscosityoils undez reservoiroondit~onsusing aotual

~servoir crude oil. This justifiedfurther theoreticaland
experimental
work on the subject.The purpose of this paper is
 .4.

w::lc~DMd ud Xlve oil from the fMplacml de Bamlha F%eld b

ll~za~ia,were
used.

PRELIMINARYLABORATORYWORK
The objectiveof the laboratoryexperimentsWas to
nChiOVO both very low rates of pressure ~e~lmscomp=abie ‘*o
mm ommmtered *n actual oil fiel~~and rates of’Pressure
dacllaoas high as poss~ble.The
. tests were carried out on
LWI@W from 5.5 om to 463 cm in length. Since no proper
\q!Joa
coroooouldbe obtainedfrom the loose Ponti~ 8~a in SupLa-
c~l do BarcAuto be used In laboratorytesta,an average.f3ample
MU aolloetedfrom the sand producedwith the oil from Inn we%~
m.1 tho sand removedin remedial~lean-up

The averagesand sample was given a spea~al tn?eatment

to ooaplotelyremoveany formationoil or waten. Several aol-
vocato
woro tried and the best results were obtainedwith gas-
ollm and arude gasoline.The diry sand was plaoed in a I%mel
anl flushedwith gasolinefirst. In order to avoZd the 108s of
the fine mnd partioles,sievesand oloth were also used. Inas-
QUQIIas the vimous mude oil dillutionwas extremelydiffioult,
tho vacuumapparatusshown in IUg. 1 was used to completely
reaovethe remainingcrude.

Fig.1

Tho vacuumapparatusconsistsof an Erlenmqer flask (1) fitted

With the lateraltube (2) for connectionto the VaWUm pWPS
md a funnel(3) secured .iXA EL-k (1) by means of the subben
 -5- “

~lug (4) ~d prov%dedat the bottom with cloth and metal sieve.
TM dlr~ sand was placed in funnelt(3).The tube (2) was flex- ‘
ltI17connwted to tQe vacuum pump. In this way the sand could
be gore thorougfiycleanedand h a shorter ttieo The sand was
than dried Ln an oven at 1000 Cto remove waties.Then again it
WFM wmhod with gasolinetdter which the sand was thoroughly
.
gnuhodwith crude gasoline~d *ied at iOOO C to eliminatethe
#iltor
posoibl~ycontainedin the fir- g-ol~e” s~b-$luentlY
tho mnd wa$ kept fos 30 ~no iR ~ e~e~tricaloven at 400-500° 0
The prelimtiav treatmentof the mmi”took
:~~ degr8~8iR/3.
shout36 daysa
For the grain size analyais an average sample.was
takenfrom the sand p~epared as above. The results of the ana-
Lynioare 8hown in Flg.2.

,the
Xt appearsthat the sand is not homogeneous non-unifomity
cooffloient
bebg 4cP*Grainsize ranged between 0.06 and 3.00
sxn,mdmore than 5W0 of the tot&l sand was retained on the
0.8 mm and l.Omm sieves.
From the lithologicaldescriptionthe Pontian sand
fromSupla~ulde Elax@iuappears to be fine-grainedto metium
and coarsegrahedtalso containingwell-roundedfragmentsof
the crystallinebasement,aswell as mica fragments.
Xn order to simulateactual field contitions,l$ve
crudeoil from the field was used throughoutthe tests”.Forty-
two crudesampleswere taken from a depth coz?respon@ to “
the top of the pay zone. The samples were transferredtito
/
 .

-6-

ZW e~ntalaorfit a pressureof 30 .atm.

Prior to stafi~w the eTWrime~t~ ~ attempt w- made
~~ t!ot~dne the pWslcal ProPert~esof *he ~rude.underreservoir
~:~$~~r~ucoco~ditlo~o The propertiesof the crude under reser-
v)teCumlltlonscould not be dete~ined as the stirring system
j? tk~ alx~d type PVT cell (flashma differentialliberation)
:~: mt par=itthe2~@w~*C equilibri~ to be reached even after
a~”torni &W of stirringoHowwer? based On the Qbservations~an
L4I%:RL soIutionzatio of 3-4 m3/m3 and a maturationpreeau~ Or
4“J4~ fiim$apprcmhlw the ~dthl reservoir pressure$couldbe
~::laatod. The cx?udeleft ti$er completionof the PVT-analysis
*s4v~~uroualystirredwith a conventionallabora$o~ Btlrx%ng
!O’r:co. ‘2he~ the specifiograv~ty and the visoos$~ of the cmuda
R? .35 0 c were detez@ned,obtainingvalues of 0.9476 gm/Gm3 and
O~rOK!IAZI
1900 cp respectively.!l!he
viscosi~ was measured by
UU2M of a capillaryviscosimeter.
Deaeratedtap water was used for the Znters%tialwater
t:.c?W teats,
aime the 8odium ohloridecontent of the.format~on
m%tt)p in the Suplaculde Baz@iu JMeld is gene~ti~ low,ra~~’
:Na 50 to 70 mg/1. A vacuum pump was used”to deaeratethe tap .
Uator.

EQUIPMENTUSED IN THE TESTS .

The apparatusused to obta%n the interstitialwatez?sa-
Wratlon and the oil saturation@ shown in F$g. 3, It oonsists

Fig.3
Jr the air pressuresupply (2),thepnessureregulator (3)~We
~.l:or
vessels(4),thel%ve oil .ta~ (~),thesand packed tube (1)
 .
.

.1
,
-7-

;~rUYL.IOd at both en~ with valves (6) and the oontrolvalve (7), “
:P.O~WIIJUrO gauges (8) and the graduatedcylinder (9) for COLlee-

tibf ad sea~uri~ liquitie

TM air pressurewas supplied from a oompressm?ata-
~g~~~.% air pressureat the ifi~t of *he water VWMWIS W-
at about 10 atm. The water in the vessels was used
ZIZi:ita%nod
t) !L~piacothe oZ1 or crude of lower speoifiu gravity from
tar.:<(~). The Zn the sand packed tube (1) during the
px?essure
t~fi:~
w~a controlledby meam of valvee (6) and (7).
The apparatusused Zn studying the depletionmechanism,
Y:4,+, conaietsof the sand packed,oll and waber saturatedtube
(L) o~ulppodwith 2 - 4 pressuregauges ranging from 0-10 atm.,
~~u valveg(2),thecontrolvalve (S)ttheflexible connection(4),
~Y.O~raduatedburette (5) for collectingand measuringthe pro-
oil and gas and the graduatedcylinder (6) for collecting ‘
.!;COA
t%o “Uutor displacedby the 021 and gas produced from tube (1).
The tube (1),shomin Fig.5 was made from bronze pipe
).> cl in length.
The tube was fitted at both ends with serew-
e~ps (2) sealedby the rubber rings (3). The screw caps were
.
by meanq of 4 wing screws
tit>c~r~d (4). The sorew caps cdntained
tuo nipples(5) and oheck valves (6).

Fig.4 and ~

In order to retain the unconsolidatedsand wL’&ihin

the
tub duringthe flow’of the oll,verytine sieves (7) were moun-
ted at both ends of the tube.
Nrs2,3,4and 5 tubes were made from plastio pipe with-
~Gawibg pressuresqp to 12 atm. Bronze*screwcaps were provided
nt both mds of the tubes. mch sarew”capcontainednipples fO~
.
~.. >.,,-- —“”’”
.

JJ!-.:lr& thO dm~

J; valves (2)sthe controlvalve (3) and the
[5) to retainthe sand, Nr.2 ana nr.3 tubes had three
a:o’te
...maa~wtaPa and nr~4 and ~05 tub~~ had four pressure taps to
u“
~’~~r~otho oha~e in Pressurealon$ the tubes durin$ the testso

EXPERIMENTALPROCEDURE
.
TQ preparefor teats the flexible aonnectioq(4) was
“ ~~l~e~with dead oil and the burette with water.Nr.2~3P4,~tubes
w~~9Coatedwith paper and three Iqers of a$best’oscord to el&-
d~~to -blent teweratu~ effects OR the flowing viscous oil.
In carryingout the tests$5 tubes of various length
an!ematruct~onwere used: ~ bronze tube and four piastZc tubes.
:y,o
Ulzeof the tubes aqd the propertiesof the sand are sho~
13 %ble 16

TABLE 1
Tube size and sand properties
:.,:O Length I.D. Porosity Permeability Interstitial‘
ebr
* water saturation
(cm) (cm.)
. (8)” (Daroy) (%)
1 5*5 4.74, 30.9 1.360 6.00
2 36.0 4*8O 28.0 2,190 6.60
3 100.0 5,23 29.3 605)90 7000 “
4 414.o 4.94 2809 5 909
● 6.70
5 463.0 4.94 29.2 6.610 ~~ 6.92

Por sand paaking the tubes th8 apparatuain F%g.6 was

u$ed.

Pig.6

,Thetube (1) fitted at bottom @th the sieve and the

$W?W cap oontaini~ th~ oheck valve (3) was placed vert~eally “
 -9”- *-

i~
●☛
~:~a~UPport(2).The hose (4) was comected to a @ass vessel
/
,,) ti:~Ic~
containeda measused WantiW of deaeratedtap water,
to OPOZAW
:’::OP valve (3) the water level in vessel (~) was at

3:;0 OAZICJ bightaS the bottom of tube (1). After opening the
(j) t~o vessel (5) was S1OW1Y raiaed so that the water
‘ta!’o’o
GJ’J~d ontortube (l). To prevent air
bubble fomation on the

~~:ltiOf th~ tubesthevessel ‘5) ‘as raised extremelyslowly.

MT;Ontho water rose w~thin 3-5 WIIof the top of tube (1) the
~qtorVUo~olwas placed on the 8uPport (6)s The sand was packed
L:,C?Wwatmr filledtube (1) though funnel (7) (about 2 ~/h).
y.j:tm water level to remain co~tant in the tube,the deaerated
Ma%t)r
VOMO1 (5) was being gra&ally loweredwhile the tube
XIJ uoin~filledwith SUd*TamPiw of the s=d was by mechanical
O~:h~~ition.After
the tube was filled with sand and water,
U1OVOand screw cap were mounted on the top of the tube.
t%.~
:?wtubeIn the vertZcalposlt~onwas then flcoded with about
:Lvoporevolunesof deaeratedwater,after wh~ch the valves at
:Io:h
ends of the tube were closed. The volume of deaerated
u.ices
retainedwithin the sand pack pores was determinedby
o;btroction
and the sand porosi~ was detex@ned from the
*WKD internalvolume of the tube’.
To determinethe pemeabiUty of the sand pack the
cubowas held in horizontalpo~i~ion and two pressure gauge~
UOrOao~ntedat each end of the tube. A measured volume of de-
~~~r~ted
water (generallyequal to the pore volume) was then pumped
t!xoughthe tube In horizontalposition.l!he
permeabili~ of ‘the,
porousmedium was calculatedfrom the volume of water tlowed
tMwagh the tube,theAnside cn?oas-seotion
of the tube,the “
●/.
 -1o-

~LO~Lngtine of the water~thepre$=uredifferencebetween t~e

:#9 ~:~u~oa
ad the absolutevis~oaim of the deaeratedwater.
The interstitialwa$er ~d crude oil saturatio~ were
~j:~~oodin the followi~ way~ the water was displacedby refined
(j~l,tt;o oil was displacedbY the v~s~ous Crude oil and then the
~OoL,IUnL
watersaturationwas detemined~ The oil used tO dis-
~LU:Otho waterwas an additive-freetrefined
okl with a VZSCO-
~:~,y
o: 46.9 Cp and a specificgsaviw of 0.866 gm/om3 at 20°0
~~,.~
~~t~ouphoric
pres~ure~Theapparaiusused to eaturate the
ZW! :ackodsodel is ShOWR in Fig~ 3. A tot~ refined oil quan-
zLcy o ~un L to three pore volumes was flowed through the mddel.
i~~ Qclformdisplacementof water by the refined oll,the pres-
. Q.i.w
w~~umaintainedat 8 atm.at the itiet and 6 atm at the
t~~:~~t. M the Mquid was produced at an.average rate of 50
w5/&y?,thowater displacementrequiredappro~mately 150 days
:Qr nr.4 tube,414cm long and nr.5 ‘tube463 cm long.
The refined oil was displacedby the ViSCOUS1$v6 0%~
IJfii~g
tho installationshown in l?ig.4.The pressure at the Inlet
n~s ~hout8 atm and at the outlet 6 atm. A volume of live 021
o~ualto two pore volumes was flowed through each tube. Live
otl displacementfrom nr.4 and nr.~ tubes took about 153 deys~
The interstitialwater saturationfor each model was
c!~~cl;lated
from the pore vol~me”of each model and the total pro+
,.
&cod watm amountwhich was carefullycollectedand meaaux?etl
JxPhg the displacements.
The test8 for studyi~ the solutiongas drive meoha-
nhm for high visoosi~ oils using an actual crude oilgwexe
cmr~ed out on the five models rnentzoned
above. lh?iortO eaoh
●I.
 .

-IJ - ‘

.
to
C:i. o;> displacementthe tubes were pressure tested.~or thie
the tubeswere ~losed ?* both en~ for 72 hours under
;.J~yXla
TO procnwe The Uve oil from nr,1 and m,

1,2 and 3 on nr.2 tube,the screw caps or

e2ther opened simultaneouslyor only

J:;O
Or thesewas opened (see Table z)’ The produoed orude OKL
ua~eolle~ted
-d weighed in order to”~etemine the ultimate
~O:avO~.The
extre~ely%ow mount of gas dissolved in the live
JiLWSBCO~idered to have no e$fect on the specific gravity,
,j:CM oxnade.
The sand packed tubes were held l; horizontal “
.,.,
●
iaA~iOII for all runs. After the crude stopped flowing the
* •d~Weretilted30-40° but no additionalo*1 was produoed.
8’+.
The installationused for runs 4,5,6,7,8,9and 10 ‘
\O~ 2 tubeand those oarried out on nr.4 and ~ tub.es9is
S20J~in Fig.4.After olosingvalves (2) and preaqure-testang
.“
:MItubesfor 72 hours under 6 atm,thevalve (2) wae opened
mt thecrudeC@ procluomonwas aontroAed by means of valve
{j)so as to obtain the medetezmined rate of pressure deeline.
W producedoil togetherwith the gas,was colleotedin burette
(~)andmeasured.All runs were conductedat the room temp@ra-
tIJroof 23°0 approachingthe reservoirtemperature(20°C).
During runs 4 through 10 (nr.2 tube) and runs I (nr.
+ md 5 tubes)the tubes were rotated 180° every houx?to dimi-
alghgravitationaleffects.The predeterminedrate of’ddly
:s~wuredecllnedur~ng these runs was obtainedby continuously
:screasing
the pressure in the models by means of ‘thecontrol
“dve (3).During this ttme the differentialpressure at the
~s& of the tubes was generallycomtant.

./.
 -12- .

TABLE 2

solutiongas drive recove%ymechanismfor

under reservoir conditionsusing actual
crude oil
Av.pressure Ultimate
‘:’.jbo
Run Experimentalprooedure decline
ra$e recovery
m,
(atm/h) (%)
Valves at tube ends com- 2 660 25,1
1 pletely open,collectedand
●

weighed produced crude I

Valves at tube ends unscre- 7.200 22.6
i 2 wed,oollectedantiweighed
producedcrude

3 Valves @ tube ends simul’tan-

18.000 .20.7
eouely removed,collectedand
weighed produced crude
-
Valves at t~be ends unscr- 0.500 22.2
1 ewedtcollectedand weighed
producedcrude
Valves at tube ends oomplete- ~.~50 40.1
ollectedand weighed
2 ~~o~~&&ccrude

Valve at one end of tube 0.100 41.1

3 compl.open~colleoted and
weighedproduced crude . .

4 Valve open at one tube end 0.002 51.8

onlytproducedcsude and gas
collectedand meamn?ed ia
burette
5 Ditto 0.010
6 Ditto 0.030 51.1
? Ditto o 040
● 53*5
8 Ditto 0.041 52.9 .
9 Ditto 0.o~o 49.4
10 0,180 45.9

5 1 Valvescompletelyopen at 0.214 36.2

both tube eniis~oo~.2eoted
~
and w.producedcrude.
 -13-

The pressure for run 10 (nr.2 tube) was decreasedby

equal steps. For run 1 (nr.4 and nr.5 tubes) the rate of pre&-
sure declinewas 0.0011 and 0.001 atm/hour respectively.This
was the lowest rate obtainableunder laboratoryoonditio~.
These mans required about 250 days and they were texnninated
as
the pressure at the fiubeends reached zero.Duringall runs the
rates were carefullycontrolled.~heoil and gas amounts in the
effluent and the pi*essures
were recorded every hour. A summary
of the prooedureapplied to carw out the tests,togetherwith
the average pressuse decline rate and ‘theultimaterecoveries
obtained for eaoh model,is presented in Table 2.

RESULTS
The results at the laboratorytests are presentedin
Table 2.
Three tests were carrZed”out on nr.1 tmbe,~.s cm
in length,atrates of pressure decline of 2.660, 7.200,and
18.000 atm/h respectively.The recoveriesobtainedat these
rates were 25.1, 22.6 and 20.7% respectively.Upon removing
the screw caps at both ends of the tube,onlyoil was initially
flowing over the entire Gross-sectionof the tube,andthe
\ bubbles of gas appearedafter about 3 minutes. It should be
pointed out that bubble foxmaationoccurred irregularlyover
the moss-section of the tube. Fiz%t,tndividualbubbles
appeared,aftersome time they jo~ned in a olusteroIn the
containersin which oi~ was collected,thegas bubbles remained
aa clusters for a long Wm.
“Siailarultimaterecovmies (22s2 %) were also ob-
.
●/.
 .

.
-14-

tube,36.0 ~m LOW ~whenby rerno~i% ‘~h

average pressure decline of 0.500 atm/

wa.:r.~~chgdOForrum 2 and 3 ulttiaterecove~iesof 40.1 ~d

,,* 9,*ros?ectively,could
W...U be obtained UpOa opening the end valve
g;:.,
~iit~a of pressuredecline bei~ equal to 0.350 and 0,100
The ultimaterecovexgfor the 100-cm nr.
tivMmur rt3SpeCtlV03ye
;vas37.3% at a rate of average pressure decline of 0.214
j :’J50
UL:/h ,obtainedby completelyope~ng both valves at the ends
of the tube. The results Of the experimentsdescribedabove
cQJldnot be plotted.The pus?poseof the tests was to detemine
t!ioultimaterecoveriesat W@ pressure drops and at
. the same
9
sho to observe the flow of the gas saturatedoil from the sand
p:tck.

~UIIS 4 through 10 on nr.2 tube and runs 1 for nr. 4

nnd nr.5 $ubes,werecarrhd OU$ ah various rate~ of pressure

docllne.The z?esults
have been plotted to”show the pressure
declineV3.the ratio of the cumulativeoil productionto the
oil initiallyin place (reooveryfactor) and the change in
@:l vs.the same ratio. The GOR curve against the recove~ fee--
tor was obtainedby plotting the cuxyala’hive
produoed gas vs.
. oumla”tiveproducedoil and by”graphicalderivat~onof t~8

Sunutlon,The change in pressure vs. mamulativeproduaea OZ1

was obtainedby direct reading of the pressure at the open
gad of the test tube.
The experimentson nr.1,2 and 3 tubes were term&na-
ted as the pressurein the sand pack reached zero.
The change in pressure and GOR va.reooveryfactor for
.
rune4 through10 (nr,2 t~be] are illustratedin 33g.7.
0

I’*$.7 .’
 .
. .

-15-

FQP Euns 4 and 5 there was a rapid Inittal pressure

kjj)from 6 to 2.5 atm.,for zuns 7 and 9 from 6 to 1.6 atm.and
●Q:
6 rum 6,$ ~d 10 from 6 atm to about 1 .atm.In the range
O: S~Pidpressuredrop the average recoveries for all SUM

ti~ro
10%. In the same ra~e of pressure deoline the gas-ozl
SaCiO had very low values~generallybelow 0’.25- 0,~0 Nm3/m3.
After reachi~ the’lW~ recovem the pressure declined
sosoDlowlyand the slope
. approacheda straight lgne. During .
t~i~periodof linearpressuredeoline,whenthe pressure
ti~p~d from about 2.5 to 1.5 atm,the recoveriesaveraged4@
:or rms 4 and 5,iSe. a .4-foldincreaseover the recovery ob-
wl~od duringthe early stages Duriw PUM 6 and 10 the pres-
~u.soroduationwaa very G1OW aa “comparedto “theprevious pres-
odm drop for 10%reOoveryO resultingin’reooverlesof only
ito. a 3-fold~ncrea~e The gas-oil ratio for nun 5 renained
~$’~, ●

constantat a very low value,unt21a reoovery

op;xmxirnately
of ‘d;;was obtained,whilethe gas-oZl ratio for run 4 rose
~ftora recoveryof 2w0. For runs 6 through 10 the GOR began
so iacreaaeas soon as the recoveryaveraged18%. An exoeptlon
:“orruns 6 throughLO is run 9,19 whioh the pressure decreased
,
ulnostlinearlyuntil a recoveryof 4076was obtained”,and
the
G,08began to increaseat an average reooveryzof24$%.
In the case of runs 4 and ~,after a recaoveryof 40$3
wti3 reachedthe pressure dropped further from 1 atm to zero.
Mrhg this time an additionalamount of otl was produced
corresponding
to an increasein recovery of 11% and 16%8res-
puotively.The gas-oilratio Increasedve~ qulukly duping thi6
ttieand after reachingmaximum values of 4.25 and 5.75 Nm3/I@
./.
_——__ ..— ., —--------
.
,,
t
-16-

~deulinedatiost to zero. Ultimate recoveriesfor

reo;~~ctivoly
~~OUOwo runs were 51.8% and 56.% respeotive$y.For runs 6
ch:wu~h 10 the decreasein pressure and the Lnorease in GOR
Oc:rrod after an averagerecove~ Qf 30% was obtaZhed,Theadti-
giOtXL.I oil produceduntil *he pressure rea~hed zero was 15-23%
J: tho original011 in place. It is apparent that ulose ultimate
~ocwories were also obtainedfor these runs.
The importantobsewations from the tests carried out
on Lr.l,Ar.2and nr03 tubes are as follows: the curves for pres-
~UP~declineand WR vs~recoverygenerallyefiibit the same
:JIUI;O;
thereis no great differencebetween recoveriesobtained
ior (3AChrun,theirvalues being about W%$although a dlfferenoe
JP to 100-foldexistedbetween the rates of Pressure decline.
There is a tendencyfor the ultimate recoveries *O

s!:Cj# low valuesat higher rates of pressure deuline. It is

~ar.~idored$however~that
this is attributableto some extents
:0 tho errorsin ,readingthe pressure and the amounts of oil
n~JgM producedfor each xwn~
Since tests on long models are time consuming,
on,ly
Jao tout was oarriedout on the 414 -om nr,4 tube and on 46~-cm
nr.> tube.The objective.ofthe test on nr.4 tube was to obtain ,
~~ low a rate of pressuredecline as was possible under labora-
toryconditionswith the viscous oil fnom Suplacul de Barc&u
(0.0011 atm/h or 0.026 atm/day).!l?his
test took about 227 d&.
.
Early during this test the preesuxe dropped rapidly
from 6 to 2.75 atm and the recoverywas 1% at low values or vne
MX?,i.e.b~lowO.~ Nm3/m~,Fig.8.

Fig.8
 .,
-17-

The pressurethen declineda~o$t linearlyto 1 atm

,] rUCO*\e~increasedto an average value of 23%. The ~ks-oil
. gio was relativelycomtmtSbegim@? to increaseas the
:oavory roachedL8%
At a recoveryof 22%,the GOR rose abruptly to a max~-
Q;3 ~~ho of 63 ~JU3hQ3~d Subsequentlydecreasedat the ~~e
ea:a.Alao,thepressurebopped imedtately from 1 atm to about
:.f)ro.
Duringthis time m-additional recove%y of 6% was obtained
f~~.1
tbo ultimatevalue was thus 28.3%.
The test contitio~ for =05 tube were the same as fos
~.st~~
tube.‘rhis test required 250 days. The rate of average
was 0.001 atm/h or 0.024 @m/day. Initiallythe
abruptlyfrom 6 to 2~80 a~~after which a linear
until a recoveryof 22% was reached. Then the
becamemore pronouncedand after an additional
the pressureappx’oacned
zero. The gas-~il z?atio
:scnosed rapMly ae the recoveryz?eaohed14%,pasaedthrough a
aAxbua value of about 15 N@3/m3 and then decreasedat the same
;+;tto.
Ultiraate
recoverywas 26.2%
The tests on nr.4 and nr.5 tubes show that at low
rotooof pressuredecline,obtainableunder laboratorycondit%oza,
bl~h uliAmaterecoveriesOZ about 26-28% can be expected.
In order to determinethe variation in the ultimate
recoverywith the producingrate,~.e.wikh the rate or pressure
*
dooline,
the ultimaterecoveryhaa been plotted against the
producingrate or the rate of average pressure decl~ne,F@. 9
and 10.

Fig.9 and 10

.
●I
 -18-

Both plots indicatean initial increase in recovery ~

~:Lb ~n:roa~~w rate,followed,bya decrease in recove~ as the

eoztinuesto increaee.All values used for the rate of

~.kzo
~.v.)i.cLion
or pressuredeclineare much higher than those to be
1:,yc~~d
f. under actualfield conditions Fro,mthe shape of the
●fo IQ Fig.10it becomesapparentthat at rates of’pressure
C.*
t●▼✚ of 10-5 atm/hour,attai-bleh
~ls;o field operations,aseoo-

g:;~ t!;ovaluesobtainedfor oil fields abroad$me$ntioned

1,2,3.
“lt:ilar

DISCUSSIONOF RESUIA?S
The initialincreasein oil recove~ with increasing
..~:~O: pressuredeuline$followedby a decrease in oil recovery
r,
; zho rate of pressuredecline aontinuesto increase$iaan ob-
.’waclonwhich differsfrom other observationsmade in such
“~uor~~ory
.* experiments.As was said before,alllaborato~ teats
:“’);a~~od
so fax?,izadioate
only the increase in recoverywith ia-
:~’~f;~ing
rate of production.In the tests describedhere%n it
u.~is
foundout that there is a rate of pressure decline fOr
~r;lch
oil recoveryby solutiongas drive may reach a maximum
v~Luo,inthi8 case slZghtlyexceeding55%. It appeara that
t :;ooo experimentalobservations
,as well as those obtainedby
otho.r investigators,are
in disagreementwith Muskat theory pre-
dictingthe reservoirbehaviourunder solution gas dz%tve.
A quantitativeexplanationof tha meehanism observed
io d$fficultbecauseOZ the complexityof the phenomenaoccurring
UU n re8ultof the lack of thermo~nam~~ equllibrkumbetween
./.
 OLL and gas after the pressurehas declinedbelow the initial
0~ti4rotion
prcssureo
In the followi~ an attemptwill,however,bemade to
;,rovide a qualitativeemlution,in other,worti,todeSOsibea
~o~utio~ga tiive mechanismbased on our present knowledgeCOU-
Lng the evolutionof gas from liquids Slowing throughpOZ?OUS
z~>rn
~QdiJWtW2d3
There Is no radicalUfference between the meohanism
J: ~olutiong- drZve.p=oposedherein and the me~rn descr$bed
:Y o~horinvestl~atom 6S8~10 to explain the disagreementbetween
.
obsewatio~ ahd fduskat theoxnwhich
zkolrlaboratox?y is known
: J h basedon the assumptionthat a continuousthemodynamie
.
exis$s between phases. Thus~a d?oz?easein pressure
~1~uiilbrlurn
JOLOW bubblepoint causes the oil to become supersaturatedand
3:35M ot gas appear at a rate which aepends upon me degree
uf ~uporsaturation.
As 8oon as the first bubbles are fomed,a
!L~fusionprocessocours and the gas diffuses out of the locally
s~por~aturated
oil into the bubbles already formed.
Rnth g= bubble fo~ation and ~fusion tend ‘to retxnm
tho ayatemTO vw zhemodynamzu equilibrium.~~y auring thks
process,
when only a few bubbles of gas are psesen~,diff
usion I&i
slowdue to the diffusionpaths being long, !l!his
leads to an o
laereasein supersatura~ion,oausi~new gas bubbles to be formed
at a higherrate. The rapid Znoreasein the number of bubbles.
J

rwults In shorter’
diktus~onpaths and thus in an Inoreased
Uffuaion-uontpolled
gaa saturation,wMoh An %urn speeds lap
~atura%ionpressurereduction.When d%ffusiongrows to the poln~”
.
$>~tthe z?ateof saturationpreasu~e”deuline ie hi8her than “
~hatof the staticpressure,super.aatunation
begins td deoreaae.
 .

. *
-20-

,iftorthe supersaturationmaohes a low value,no further bubbles

~t HQO will be practical- formed and after this the rate of
Is sufficientto reduce the saturationpressure as
.ilf~uaion
:l~utu the staticpressure+s.decreased.In the ease of high
•~lUCOAJL~
o~ls,supersaturlion
la$ts lo~er~because the diffusion
Coofficieat
for dissolvedgas which iS inverslyproportionalto
:!Mviscosi~ aoeffi~ient,$8 rather low.
‘i%ebubblesof gas fomed ex&nd as a resulk of pres-
~uro reductioaand inwarddiffusion of the gas from the”locally
o~prmturated oil$md thus can drive OUt the oil. It appears
mr~fom,tkt the amount of +1 displacedwiU be greater,the
:ar~or the numberof g?s bu~bles fo~ed and the lower the
will exist as discontinuousgas phase. The average rate
btibbloa
J: bubblefoxmationincreasesvery fast w%th increasingsupeS-
thus a..0%.~ato be practicallyindependentof
oaturAtiOn$it
:Luidcompositionand to be about the same for most naturally
o~currlnggas-oilsystems.The crude oils exhibiti& ahigh
valum factorand relativelylow”intetiacialtensionsunder
wmrvoir conditions 10 Th@
are likely to be an exoeption.
turn, rises
ouporsatur&ondegree.$in as the,rate of pressure
reductioninmeases.
MaximuIu
supersaturationis reached early.The bubbles
aro,therefore,foxmed
with%n a short periodtaincetilesuperaa-
Curationdecreasessubsequentlydue to the gas diffuSingZ!X50
the gas bubblesalreadyfomued.
As the size of individualhubbies grows.they wI1l ‘
dlsplaoethe oil from an ixacreaBi~number of pores and “even- o
tuallythe gas bubbleswill join Zn a contkuou6 PhaSes The
Pore8from which the oil is being dXsplacedwill “obviouslybe
 .

-21-

:,;
J$oo:f~ringthe le8st r.esis*anCe
to flow~i.e-the largest
‘..:o
* CtI.NLWla~ At this s@3e the #sas-Oil ratio begins to increaae ‘
.. I
.,, . oil dl~placementbecomes increasinglyditficult,as the
. .:iLQi201J5 gas pW8e contributesvev l~ttle to displace the
>:: f~O=porestAt the same time “pressuredecl~nes at an in-
to be noted.however~tkt while larger
a continuoustkread of ga~~~heinuvidual
effic~entlyUsplace the oil until they
thread-likegas phase or fozm a new gasous
;‘.tJo.
This observationjustifiesthe v~ew expressedabove,that
● I* rOCOVe~
&b dependsupon the number of bubbles of gas being
:.j.=d.Oil displacementce-ses titer all bubbleS of gas”have
;~i~odin a continuousphase. This behaviour is illustratedby
“.:.-
t~ut~shown in Flgo7 md 8. lt appears t~t “ifby an abrupt
;:..~joqro
declinea ve~ large number of gas bubbles has been
f:caod,the
continuousgas pkse may occur at a lower recoveqy .
L:.:~n
thatobta~nedat a .1OWrate of pressure decline,dueto the
: .it~t)l~~ beingforced closer together and the dZtfusionpath
;o~~thbeoomingmuch shorter.
This phenomenonmtght prov~de an explanationfor the
o>~orvations
made durbg the experimentsdescribedhere,namely,
that initially021 recoveryincreasesas the rate of pressure
~tocline
increases,then
a maximum is reached Xollowedby a
l!~crease
kn recoVe~ as the rate of pressure deoline wmbinuea
W increase,
Fig.9 and 10. A continuousinorease $n recovery
~ith increasingrate o% p~es$ure decline has been reported
t’rom otherlaboratoryexpex?tie~ts ●

./.
 .
*
,

-22-

The Lack Of thermodynamicequilibriumhas been obser-

vo.i great number of iuvestlgatom prior to the examitition
by R

02’LW influenceupon the tlow of fluiti in the porous media.

~{1
.1~u~rsaturatiOXIS
., ●
of several.scores of atmosphereshave been
~o;.ofiod
by various investigatorsfrom laboraborgtests in
which vimlem gas-liquidsystems have been used. These Mgh
:O<rueGqof
supersaturationwere obtainedon carefullypurified
J~tiLoa~
in the absenceof aq surface which might ~ve favoured
‘OQbble
gonorationor any nucleati% agents* In the oSl reser-
VQLSJ ouch nuoleati~ agents have been f’ound to exls~ on the
rQCkourface.Thisis why bubble fomation has been shown by
{)x;+~rl~ontal
observationsto occur especiallyat the rock walls
6
rnthor than witMn @e liquid phase~as opposed to Handyts viewo
;i~~~
oito and generationof bubbles Ot gas and the increase in
UL:O of bubblesalreadytormed,,were
ootiimed by microsoopie
This supportsthe assumptionthat the disaontixuaous
. JL.Jio3.14
4!LUphasecan not flow. In fact,the rnaintename of constant
~(w-oilratiosover a long period Of time during the tests a3ad
~.m~ix.esthe tendencyfor this ratio to deosease,appeasto be
cuatram to Handytsview that flow of the discontinuousgas
p~nsornigntbe possible.
The developmentof a qu+t~tat~ve theory of &he beha-
viourof the dissolvedgas drive mechanism describedabove,~n
aktualreservoirswill be an extremelydifficulttask,’both
from
tb analyticalatandpo~ntand the determinationof baa%c iRfOFw
studiesare necessaryto solve this problem. The
a.ition.Further
LSUCCW3of these tnvbstigationawill depend on mose detailed
‘~orkin the field of the physical chemzstxyon the kinetios of
.
./.
. .

-23-

Z~UJformationof the gas phase in the porous media.

.
*
SIGNIFICANCEOF RESULTS
The observatio~ from the laboratoryexperimentsand
Z?M mchanism proposedherein to explain these observationsare
in ~i~ugreementwith Muskat theory On the behaviour‘ofsolution
~UI drivereservoirs In faot~ these e~eriments and other 6tudio
OD t!]ooame subject6 $8*~ rove”shcwn that oil recovery depends
,~ponthe rate of production.At the low rates of production
MUULIYencountered in the oil fieltirthe dumge in recovery is
too mall to be detected sand tus ewlaim perhaps why the
phono=ononhas passed unnoticedin productionpractice.
From the tedts describedhere,it is consideredthat
u crit~cal rate of production~~.eca cr$tioalrate of pressure
.hclino,should
exist beyond which recoverywould decrease rather
~bm Lnoreasewith increasingrate. The recovery corresponding
to tho critioalrate obtainedin these experimentswas 50%.!&s
j
value1s comparableto the highest waterfloodrecoveriesfor
tho usualvimosity range. This means that at least theoreticall
recoveriesfor solutiongas drive reservoirs as high as those
x’roa waterflood may be expected.
‘Accordingto Muskat theory,the oil and gas properties
wouldhave a great influenceon the solution gas drive mechanisms
This aa.n not be the case if we consider that.as was ment~oned
abovo,therate of bubble fozmationis practicallyindependent
Of the oil and gas properties.OAlreooveryAs l$kew ‘kodepend
upon the pore space ge,ometry
and the charawberistiosOf the
rOCksurfacesather than upon the propertiesof OU and gas~
./.
 ,
-24-

WJ m mwmtion O? the t~-d-l~ke con~inu- g- phse is

!~~:’:rzzinod
by the pore geomet~~and the c~racteri~tics of the
*.,
● .:
:#-
uurfacocoatrollthe nmber Of bubbles of gas being
11, Ttis view is contraryto that of
f.;:-2wl.(nucleation)
,....
~ylfi
;... who pointedout that for a given high rate of produe-
::,tt,oiI
racoverywould increasewith increasingoil via~oai~
:..9r~c~ that recoveriesare low for solution gas tiive -e
.
...:-rvoim oontainlw high vzscosz~ OilScm be e~lained by
:’,,1
fnilureto achievehigh supersaturatZons or a rate of
~
2=
-0.ISUrO declinewhich would allow a great number of gas
J.,,.
~leo to be formed.Usually O+Y a small number of bubbles
..,.~O~~d,~hiohby expansioxl
.,..* and diffusionenlarge in the
::~~atlon
of leastrdsistance~”i.e,
the largest pore channels.
‘t)
.. i~;:c~
noon in a continuousphase,with the result that the
t~;zwoir pressurebecoxnes
:..) rapidly depleted,
lD ease furtheratudieawill also Qonfim the obser-
that
.;~,t:oa oil recoveryis independentof the fluid charae-.
:~?r~~ticg
,cumes of the me o? those shown An l?i$.9and 10
developedfor various rock types to predict 011 re-
fer variousrates of production.
In exanZn2ngthe solution gas drive recoverymeda-

croanoin reoove~ witi in~reasiq raze of pressure deoltie

on tho bmia of the ball~ce betieen capilla~ t!oroes,w~eh .
ton$to retainthe liquid in the smallest openings of the pores,
ani the pressuregratientatendi~ to displacethe liquid.
.,
“I?~l@y forcescan not have an tiport~t role in the deple-
+
. ... ..- ..+.,- —..
-
.

-25-

.I**.
*U. , ..~J:hmlfJa dmcrlbed
W
herein and they can not be e~ected
‘, J ?..=i”*’o 3 ~;roiit
*nfluenceon recoveq~
If the depletionmechanismpresented here is correct,
, ,, concepts
...o;,~tiso~t and equatiom for the heterogenouaflow
*
~!;rJJ$h pomuti me~a can not be used to quantitativelydes-

::2;o fLOW duringfluid displacementunder solution gas drive

27C?: \P.ffJ21* Thus,it would be tipossibleto determinerelative
* q :**; ~,,\
d
bllittosas unequivocalfunotlonsof saturation.In addi-
‘.LO:J
w tho flow equations$the,
quantitativedescriptionof the
l:~~p~:~cc:otit processalso requ~resthe basic relationsof the

i,:~ck~uko into accountdiffusion.

It Is difficultto anticipatethe con$equancesof this
r;o#sonceptfos productionpractice.Since the above conclusions
,,
:’~:sJlativoly
important,turther
studies are necessaryto oheck
~hon,Incaoe confirmationof the re8ults is obtained,theappli-
c’~tio~to actualoomiitionsdoes not seem impossible,Thua~ in
L?;oc:~uoof small reservoirscontainingcrude oils of the
:.JI.ML viuco~itieaand whose pemneabilitiesare very high,or
:“ructuroa limestonereservoirs,011 recoveriescomparableto ,
obtsinedby waterflood
~:~orJo would be possible,if hQgh pressurn
~!rap~,about
1 atm/day900uldbe aohievedduring the early life
o: tho field.ID this way, for fracturedreservoirsin whioh no
Mntor drive as high as those obtatned
exista~recoveries in th8
. Frooomo of a naturalwater dr2ve Gould be esspe~tedo
 -26-

‘@fi~~~IO:JS
1- hborato~ tests on the solution gas drive mecha-
:,:,7:; .:~i~h viscosifu
,;$L:; crude oils have intioatedthe z?eoovery
’931:.-. increasing
‘*”+JfJu~ ‘~ith sate of p%assure deoline,followed
y it :,}~r~{~~o
in recovery,i.e. the presence OZ a maximum ultimate
:’OL! .“:~~z“ora c~itlcal x?ateof pressure decline. Based on this
,.,:~-~;:ltio~
a DOW cozwpt has been developed,showi~ that the
,.71
.zI~agas drivo mechanismis principallycontrolledby
;i;’
‘:.
!,,?+urat~on;inward diffus~oa,poregeometqy and the charac--

2- It appearsthat the crude oA1 and gas propestles

;~~!~l;ocap%llwy forceshave no eSSential $Xfluenceon tine
.JU1
;t!oagu drive mechanismand ulttiate recovery~thelatter
sate of pressure decline,i.e.on

for the critical rate obtained in

is comparableto the highest water-
oi~s in the usual

4 - If the mechanismpostulatedhere ts correct ,Zts

%0 actualfieldsdoesnotseem impossible,atleast
~l~;~llcat~o~
L: a r~to of pressuredeeline of 2 atm/day aould be obtained
1::t!:~Qarly life of reservozrastaohas mall reservolrahaving
●I*

.
“-
,,
.

-28-

. .

L. ~xx~~acou~CrudesRespond to Water-Flootin$~Oil and Gas

b J1.(March30~1959)Q, 189-193”
Kroz~,A*Ia”and ~tOilMining’’,Gostoptehizdat~
Zdorov,S-F.:
~oucow,1955(in russian)e
:;titton,E. : “WaterFlood Perfoaance An,a High VisoosL@
u~~ ~oso~olr”, J.Pet.Tech*
(December~1963)1281-1284.
4. ~Edison,E.H.Jr
~70~ort5,T,G.
.. .,and”Clark,N.J.:’’gorrelatio~
0: Gag Oil Ratio Kistory in a solution Gas Drive Reser-
voir”,J.Pet.Tech.(June,1962)595-598-
!{ldi~8,R.L.
,Mlton,R.L.”$Greene$H-W.
,Kyte,J~R.and
y~tic~M,,V.O.
:l*~erimental and CalculatedBehavZourof
l)lu~olvod
Gas-DriveSystemst’
,Trans.AI~ (1963)& S
~~rt 11,41+8.
6. !lmly,L.L..“A LaboratoryStudy of Oil Recoveryby Solu-
●

tioa Gas Drive”,J.Pet.!l?eoh.

(December,1958
) 31O-315.
j\awot,H,G.,Muskat,hl.
:” Effect of PressureReduction
Trans.AIME (L9~8 =d 1939) W
oa Coro Saturation,tt .
and ~, 172-li33.
Gtowart$C,R.
,l-Iunt$E.B.Jr.
~So~eider~F~N.tWffenlF.M.
ond Berry~V.J.Jr,:ll
The Role of Bubble Fomnation’in Oil
Rocoveryby SolutionGas Drives $n I&uestoneq9t
Trans.
AIM3 (1954)~,2$14-301.

$ldmt,M.t” PhysAoalPrinciplesof Oil Produclkon”

Mc Graw-Hill
,NewYork (2949). ●

l{unt$E.D.
,Mr~,T.J.:” Evolutionof Gas from L%quids
PM?::: fhroughPorous Media’t ,A.1.Oh.E.Journal,(Deoem-
ber,1956)~, 560-567.
 . .
? *
,*

-29-

Kennedy,H.T.,Olson, ●“ Bubble Formationin Sup&watu-

C.R*.
11●

rated ~drocarbon Mi@ures’’~Tr~~A1~ (1952)~w271-278*

i2. Wieland,D.R. “Measurementof Bubble Fre-
,Kennedy,H.T..
●

quency In Cores”,Trw AImJ (1957)~, 122-125.

13. Volmer,M.:”Kinetik der Phasenbilduwg”Verla$ von Th.
Steinkopff
,Dresdenund ~ip~ig (1929) ●

14. Chatenever,A.,In&a,M.Pm,Kyte,J*R~:tt
MicroscopicObser-
vations of SolutionGas-DriveBehaviour**,J~Fet.Teoh.
(June,1959)~.3-15.

.
,
 . .
.
, ,
.’

I gosohe

. I

.
.

%.

. ,
?IG, !-APPARATUS USED FOR WASHING w
. THE SAN9
..
● .

,, , ,s 1

.1. I I 1111111 I I 1111111 1 I 1111111

● . itl

☛✎

6Wd7in”s}ze, mm
FIG.2 -RESULTS OF GRAIN SIZE A’NALYS150F THE PONTIAN SAND
FROM SUPIACU DE BARCkJ *
,. *-
,..
 1

FIG.3-SCHEMATIC SKiTCH OF THE lNSTALLATIONiISED 70 OaiAIN WATEfIAND CRUDE ,

OIL SATURATIONSIN THE SANDPACK B
*

*
,
..
●

..

\ -1

“$
.
FIG. 4-SCHEMATIC SKiTCH OF THE INSTALLATION USED FOR STUWIMG’
THE SOLUTION GAS DRiV~ MECHANISM FOR H!QH VISCOSITY OILS
# .
‘!~.
. .
,

,. --

.. -

I
 . .
●

0
,?.
,
,

..

7 4

1 . ●

. . “IYP.I ???/be

0
.94

..

,.
.,
fIG. 5- TEST..t TUBES USED IN LA80RAT0Ry EXperimentS

..

.:.
●
.

● ✎
✎
,..
‘.. . .. . .. . .

“.x
.,...... ;
::..
? ..
.

::
. ..
b J;
. .
?“ ...,

“’i
.’,,
:.

.
.,

-,
.“
.
..

-.
..
~:

.
.L
.-
,.
z 4

FIG. 4 -SCHEMATIC
.
/’+

1 ., —’

DIAGRAM OF THE APPA -

0
*
 .
.
.
. .
.

. .

i 1 i
\
L RUN 4, PRESSURE DgCLINE R4Tfi tI.048 atm Idav RECOVERV S1.8 %
---- . S- #.”.-” D.Z411 ‘ ‘ H 5s:5 ?.
.— . 6 U-* &7zQ : ,. - S!*1 x
<
—.— . 7.- @ 0.960 0 u 53.5 x
—.. — . tl --- 0.970 : 0
9 ● .-, - Limo 0
10 u - “ 4.320 : *

-,

●
i

.
●-N

‘~-—.
-..

, ----------
I
1 1

2i7 .

.
m.7- VARIATION IN PRESSURE AND GOR Vs. THE RATIO OF CUMULATIVE pRoDUcED olL To oR@lNAL OIL IN P@E ( RECOVERY FAcTofl 100&,%)
FORWNS 4,5,6,7,8,9,10 (O?d THE 36-cim TUBE) AT DIFFERENT RATES OF PRESSURE ‘DECLINE
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rgcovefly 283%
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decline @Z4 di77/dey,UIImete
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recovery 262% .1- 1I
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RATIO OF CUMULATIVE ;ROOuCED OIL TO “ORIGINAL OIL IN PLACE. RECOVERY
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FIG.9TVARIATION IN ULTIMATE RECOVER? VS. AWRAOE. RATEOF PROLWI’ION OBT?UNED

. . FOR NR.1,2,8,4,5 TUBES, ~
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t)S’fAINED FOR NR.1,2,3,415 TIJ8E3 ●

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