Gas-Cap Expansion Drive / Gas Cap Drive

Frequently, if reservoir pressure is initially equal to or at some later

stage falls to the
bubble point pressure for the oil, the gas released from solution
may migrate upwards to form a gas cap on top of the oil. As
previously discussed, the loss of the gas from being in solution
within the oil, will lead to the oil having a higher viscosity and lower
mobility. With the solution gas drive mechanism, the production of
fluids occurred primarily with gas expansion as it moved towards
the wellbore. The performance of a gas cap drive reservoir in terms
of the oil production rate and GOR will vary from that of a
solution gas drive as shown in Figure below.

Performance of a Gas Cap Drive Mechanism