Experimental Study on Factors Affecting the Performance of Foamy Oil Recovery

Weifeng Lv, Dongxing Du, Jiru Yang, Ninghong Jia, Tong Li and Rong Wang
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Weifeng Lv: Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Dongxing Du: College of Electromechanical Engineering, Geo-Energy Research Institute, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266061, China
Jiru Yang: State Key Laboratory for Enhanced Oil Recovery, Beijing 100083, China
Ninghong Jia: State Key Laboratory for Enhanced Oil Recovery, Beijing 100083, China
Tong Li: State Key Laboratory for Enhanced Oil Recovery, Beijing 100083, China
Rong Wang: Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: The flow characteristics of dissolved gas driven processes in some heavy oil reservoirs, such as low gas–oil ratio and higher oil recovery rate than expected, are quite different from conventional oil production processes. Foamy oil is considered one of the main reasons behind such a production phenomenon. In this paper, the factors affecting the performance of foamy oil recovery were experimentally investigated in a sandpack medium with the assistance of computed tomography (CT) technology to help further the understanding of the mechanism. Five different experiments were applied and the results showed that (1) the linear pressure drop production model had a similar oil recovery to that of the step-down mode; (2) increasing the depletion rate could be more favorable to the oil recovery rate; (3) under a constant gas–oil ratio, raising the temperature had little impact on oil recovery, but showed obvious impact on the production curve; and (4) with higher permeability, there were more residual oil at the end of the displacement process. Lastly, a dry gas huff and puff experiment was conducted and the decreased oil saturation was observed in the inlet section, while no obvious effect was remarked in the outlet region of the medium.

Keywords: foamy oil; CT scan; influential factors; heavy oil recovery (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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