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Status of Miscible Displacement: Spe, Arco Oil Gas Co
Status of Miscible Displacement: Spe, Arco Oil Gas Co
Summary
Methods for miscible flooding have been researched and vent components through repeated contact with the reser-
field tested since the early 1950's. This paper reviews voir oil. Miscibility achieved in this manner is called
the technical state of the art and field behavior to date for "multiple-contact" or "dynamic" miscibility. The
the major miscible processes: first-contact miscible, vaporIzmg-gas drive process achieves dynamic
condensing-gas drive, vaporizing-gas drive, and CO 2 miscibility by in-situ vaporization of the intermediate-
flooding. Important technological areas selected for molecular-weight hydrocarbons from the reservoir oil in-
review include phase behavior and miscibility, to the injected gas. Dynamic miscibility is achieved in
sweepout, unit displacement efficiency, and process the condensing-gas drive process by in-situ transfer of
design variations. COrflood technology is emphasized, intermediate-molecular-weight hydrocarbons from the
and several technical issues are identified that still need injected gas into the reservoir oil.
to be resolved. Rules of thumb and ranges of conditions Propane 01:' liquid petroleum gas (LPG) mixtures
are discussed for applicability of each process. A com- typically were the solvents used in first-contact
parison is made of the incremental recovery and solvent hydrocarbon miscible flooding, whereas natural gas at
slug effectiveness observed in field trials of the different high pressure and natural gas with appreciable concen-
processes. From the limited data available, there is no trations of intermediate-molecular-weight hydrocarbons
clear-cut evidence that field results on average and for a were injection fluids in vaporizing-gas drive and
given slug size have been appreciably better or poorer for condensing-gas drive floods. The high cost of propane,
one process compared with another. LPG, or enriched hydrocarbon gas dictated that these
solvents be injected as slugs, which usually were driven
Introduction with natural gas. Flue gas and nitrogen also have been
The search for an effective and economical solvent along found to achieve dynamic miscibility at high pressures
with development and field testing of miscible-flood with some oils by the vaporizing-gas drive mechanism.
processes has continued since the early 1950's. Early Hydrocarbon miscible processes have received exten-
focus was on hydrocarbon solvents, and three types of sive field testing since the 1950's, primarily in the U.S.
hydrocarbon-miscible processes were developed: the and Canada. More than 100 projects were initiated dur-
first-contact miscible process; the vaporizing-gas drive ing this time period. \-9 The majority were small-scale
process, often called high-pressure gas drive; and the pilot tests involving one or at most a few injection wells;
condensing-gas drive process, sometimes called however, a number of large projects were undertaken in-
enriched-gas drive. volving several thousand acres or more (> 4 X 10 6 m 2 ).
First-contact miscible solvents mix directly with reser- A few projects tested flue-gas injection.
voir oils in all proportions and their mixtures always re- Recent miscible flooding interest in the U.S. has
main single phase. Other solvents are not directly misci- centered on the CO 2 process, although use of CO 2 for
ble with reservoir oils, but under appropriate conditions oil recovery is not a recent idea. Research dates to the
of pressure and solvent composition these solvents can early 1950's. CO 2 has several advantages compared
achieve miscibility in-situ by mass transfer of oil and sol- with hydrocarbon solvents or flue gas. It often achieves
0149·2136/83/0004·9992$00.25
dynamic miscibility at a significantly lower pressure than
Copyright 1983 Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME natural gas or flue gas, so more reservoirs can be
APRIL 1983 815
SINGLE LIQUID
3600
PHASE
3200
100 VOL % C02
2800
;ff: REGION OF UPPER LIQUID IUL)
o
o AND LOWER LIQUID ILL)
'"
in
.3 2400
w
• SINGLE CONTACT POINTS
1200 0% Ul
'----I--.--'l--REGION OF LL AND GAS
90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 2
800 VOLUME PERCENT
LOWER LIQUID PHASE
miscibly flooded with CO 2 than with these other gases. «0.83 g/cm 3); and 3,500 psi (24.1 MPa) is about the
In addition, both the supply and cost of CO 2 may be lower limit for miscibility pressure, which may be
more favorable in the future than for hydrocarbon misci- substantially higher than this. Phase relations with flue
ble solvents. This is because large quantities are gas or nitrogen are more unfavorable for dynamic
available from natural deposits. 10, II Engineering studies miscibility than for methane, causing a higher miscibility
show that CO 2 from some of these deposits can be pressure, although the pressure increase may be small
developed and transported to favorably located oil fields with some oils of high saturation pressure. 14,15
by pipeline at acceptable costs. II There has been The mechanism by which CO 2 achieves dynamic
moderate field testing so far of CO 2 -miscible miscibility is not thoroughly understood at this time. The
flooding. 10 bulk of evidence to date indicates that a vaporizing-gas
There are about 40 projects of all types currently ac- drive mechanism prevails when reservoir temperature is
tive. 12 Total production rate attributable to miscible greater than about 120°F (49°C). 16·18 However, CO 2 is
flooding probably is more than 100,000 BID (16000 a much more powerful vaporizer of hydrocarbons than
m 3 /d) worldwide. natural gas or flue gas. Hydrocarbons as heavy as the
gasoline and gas/oil fractions are vaporized into the CO 2
Technical State of the Art front in addition to intermediate-molecular-weight
Phase Behavior and Miscibility hydrocarbons, and, because of this, development of
Phase behavior requirements and mechanisms for vaporizing-gas drive miscibility with CO 2 can occur
achieving miscibility in the hydrocarbon processes were with little or no C 2 through C 6 components present in
generally recognized by the late 1950's. Hutchinson and the crude oil. 18
Braun 13 described how multiple-contact miscibility was At temperatures lower than about 120°F (49°C) the
achieved in the vaporizing-gas and condensing-gas drive situation becomes more complex. 17 ,19,20 This is il-
processes and discussed the factors affecting miscibility lustrated by the pressure-composition diagram of Fig. 1.
for all the hydrocarbon processes. Pseudotemary At pressures higher than about 1,600 psi (11.0 MPa) for
diagrams and pressure-composition diagrams were this particular CO 2 /oil system, two liquid phases coexist
shown to be useful ways for representing the phase in the multiphase region rather than the gas/liquid
behavior of these systems. equilibrium typical of vaporizing-gas drive systems. At
Miscibility between solvent and driving gas normally pressures between about 1, 150 and 1,400 psi (7.9 and
determines the minimum pressure required for first- 9.7 MPa), three phases can be in equilibrium-two liq-
contact miscibility. Miscibility pressures generally range uids and a gas. This type phase behavior has been
from about 1,100 to 1,900 psi (7.6 to 13.1 MPa). reported in the literature several times. 11,19,21,22
Condensing-gas drive miscibility depends on oil com- Gardner et al. 19 experimentally determined pseudoter-
position, enriched-gas composition, pressure, and nary diagrams to investigate the liquid/liquid and three-
temperature. Miscibility pressure typically is in the range phase regions of Fig. 1. Their diagrams are shown in
of 1,500 to 3,000 psi (10.3 to 20.7 MPa) for oils of Figs. 2 and 3. At 2,000 psi (13.8 MPa), Fig. 2, two liq-
30° API gravity (0.88 g/cm 3) or higher. uid phases are in equilibrium. For phase behavior of the
Vaporizing-gas drive miscibility with natural gas type shown in this figure, dynamic miscibility can be
depends on oil composition, temperature, and pressure. achieved in a manner analogous to the vaporizing-gas
High-gravity oils are required, generally >40° API drive miscibility for gas/liquid phase behavior.
816 JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY
100 VOL % C02
LEGEND
U . FLUX, 8/0/FT2
• SINGLE CONTACT POINTS
i< 0 . VISCOSITY CP
l!:. MULTIPLE CONTACT POINTS
X . LENGTH. FT
100
Y HEIGHT. FT
- PLAIT POINT K PERMEABILITY, MD
80 tlp SOLVENT -OIL DENSITY
DIFFERENCE. GM CC
60
I-- III - - 1 - - - IV - - - -
M 65
40
M 27
=====r::======-
~=::-I~I III ---~ IV-
Fig. 3-Composite ternary diagram for the CO 2 /Wasson crude Fig. 4-Flow regimes in a two-dimensional, uniform linear
system at 1,350 psia and 105°F (after Ref. 19). system.
Hydrocarbons are extracted from the oil into the displacement is still characterized by a single gravity
COz-rich liquid phase to create a miscible transition finger, but vertical sweepout becomes independent of the
zone. value of the ratio until a critical value is exceeded.
Fig. 3 shows data at 1,350 psi (9.3 MPa), a pressure Beyond this critical value, a transition region is en-
where three phases were found in equilibrium on the countered (Region III), where secondary fingers form
pressure-composition diagram. The pseudoternary beneath the main gravity tongue. In this region sweepout
diagram hypothesized from these data shows four for a given value of PV injected increases sharply with
subregions: three two-phase regions and one three-phase increasing values of the viscous/gravity ratio. Finally, a
region. Although slim-tube displacement experiments value of viscous/gravity ratio is reached where the
showed that dynamic miscibility could be achieved at displacement is entirely dominated by viscous fingering,
this pressure, the exact mechanism has not been defined and vertical sweepout again becomes independent of the
clearly. A combination of vaporizing-gas drive and viscous/gravity ratio (Region IV). The value of
condensing-gas drive mechanisms is suggested by the viscous/gravity ratio at which transition occurs from one
phase behavior depicted in Fig. 3, but more work is flow region to another depends on the mobility ratio. 24
needed to verify or disprove this concept. There are considerable published areal sweepout data
Miscibility pressure for some oils with CO 2 is as low for flow dominated by viscous fingers 25-29 and some
as 1,200 psi (8.3 MPa) , and miscibility pressure in- vertical sweepout data for Region I and II flow
creases with increasing reservoir temperature and dominated by gravity tonguing. 30,31 There are few
decreasing oil gravity. 11,23 As a rough rule of thumb, published data for volumetric sweepout. 30 Data are
reservoirs deeper than about 2,500 ft (762 m) containing limited also for slug processes,32 tertiary recovery, 33
oils of 28° API or higher (0.89 g/cm 3 or lower) should and dynamic miscible displacement. 34
be evaluated as potential candidates for CO 2 miscible Although several methods have been researched for
flooding. improving mobility ratio and, consequently, the
sweepout of horizontal miscible floods, 35-39 alternate in-
Sweepout jection of water and solvent currently is the only method
Solvents typically are less dense and less viscous than being practiced in the field. 40 Even when gravity causes
reservoir oils. Laboratory research and field testing have the solvent and water to segregate partially, laboratory
shown that gravity tonguing and viscous fingering are experiments 4I and reservoir simulations 42 ,43 both show
more severe than in waterflooding because of these prop- that improved sweepout may result still from alternate
erties. As a result, sweepout usually is poorer than in solvent/water injection. Solvent/water injection may
waterflooding for equivalent PV of fluid injected. also be of benefit in tertiary-recovery flooding, even
Sweepout depends on mobility ratio and on the ratio of though injection of more water into rock where the oil
viscous (horizontal) and gravity (vertical) forces. Four saturation has already been driven to its residual value,
flow regimes are possible in the vertical cross section, intuitively may seem counterproductive. 42,43 There have
depending on the viscous/gravity force ratio.24 This is been many field projects where operators reported that
shown schematically in Fig. 4. solvent/water injection was beneficial in moderating pro-
At very low values of viscous/gravity force ratio duced GOR after solvent and drive-gas break-
(Region I), the displacement is characterized by a single through. 44 -52 Mobility of the solvent/water region was
gravity tongue or finger overriding the oil. The geometry measured directly in a recent field test and found to be
of this finger and vertical sweepout depend on the par- about as low as the mobility of drive water in the
ticular viscous/gravity ratio of the displacement. At preceding waterflood. 53 A potential disadvantage of sol-
higher values of viscous/gravity ratio (Region II), the vent/water injection is trapping of oil by water if overin-
APRIL 1983 817
jection of water should cause a high water saturation at recovery if water is overinjected during alternate sol-
the miscible displacing front. This potential effect should vent/water injection. 43 Several studies with reservoir
be evaluated carefully in selecting a solvent/water injec- rocks, however, have found little or no trapping of oil
tion ratio. caused by mobile water, at least for the water saturations
Factors that affect CO 2 mobility are not completely investigated, perhaps because of the mixed wettability of
resolved at this time. Considering viscosity alone, a these reservoir rocks. 49,57,61,62 Nevertheless, evaluation
substantially unfavorable mobility ratio would be ex- of potential oil trapping is advisable if alternate sol-
pected in CO 2-miscible flooding. However, the com- vent/water injection is planned.
plex CO 2/oil phase behavior that has been reported at Oil can be bypassed by miscible solvents because of
relatively low reservoir temperatures raises the possibili- dead-end pore structure and because of microscopic-to-
ty of precipitation of liquid and/or solid phases in the macroscopic permeability heterogeneities. Several
CO 2/oil transition zone that might reduce CO 2 mobility publications have shown the effect of laboratory core-
below the level anticipated from normal viscosity and scale heterogeneities in carbonate cores. 62 ,63 There are
relative permeability relations. Some laboratory flow ex- no data published so far showing a significant effect of
periments are published that indicate reduced mobility in this sort in sandstones. Bypassed oil saturations ranging
the multi phase region. 54 Lower-than-expected CO 2 in- from 0.13 to 25 % PV were reported for a series of cores
jectivity was reported in several field tests,52.55 but from one carbonate reservoir. 62 However, for reservoir
whether the field test behavior was caused only by a times and rates, some of the oil located in core-scale
near-well permeability reduction or whether it was hetero¥eneities may subsequently be recovered by diffu-
caused by a reduced CO 2 mobility throughout the swept sion. 6 Techniques are not well developed for determin-
region has not been established conclusively. This is one ing the amount of oil that may be permanently bypassed
of the more important technical issues in CO 2 flooding because of pore structure.
left to be resolved. Unnecessary injection of water or Gardner et al. 19 published calculations showing that
overinjection, if some water should be required, not only the magnitude of residual oil saturation caused by liquid
increases the complexity and expense of field operation precipitation in CO 2 floods depends on the size of the
but also decreases injectivity unnecessarily and multi phase region and on the degree of fluid mixing dur-
lengthens project life. Also, water overinjection con- ing the displacement. This should be true for vaporizing-
ceivably could trap some oil and render it inaccessible to gas drives as well.
the CO 2 , There have been several field tests published where oil
Data reported by Giraud 34 indicate that two-phase saturations left behind solvent fronts were determined by
flow in the miscible transition zone of a vaporizing-gas coring. A core taken 100 ft (30.5 m) from an injector in
drive can also reduce gas permeability and mobility the Seeligson condensing-gas drive flood showed good
below that expected for a first-contact miscible solvent. permeability zones of this sandstone were essentially
Densities of oil and CO 2 are similar at many reservoir swept clean of oil. 64 A pressure core taken behind the
conditions, which tends to minimize segregation be- enriched-gas front at South Swan Hills found an average
tween these fluids in reservoirs that have not been 7.9% PV oil saturation in this carbonate formation. 65
waterflooded. In reservoirs that have been waterflooded Pressure cores taken in the Mead-Strawn sandstone
or have had water injected with CO 2 to counteract the behind a CO 2 flood at distances of 50 and 100 ft (15.2
effects of viscosity ratio and permeability stratification, and 30.5 m) from an injection well had average oil
the density contrast between water and CO 2 may cause saturations of 10 and 5% PV stock-tank oil,66 and a
segregation. 42,43 pressure core taken 35 ft (10.7 m) from a CO 2 injector in
the San Andres carbonate formation of west Texas found
Unit Displacement Efficiency oil saturations that varied from 3 to 30% PV stock-tank
Under some conditions all the oil may not be displaced oil. 67
from a given volume of rock even though the solvent
composition and pressure are sufficient for miscibility Process Design Variations
and even though the rock has been completely swept by Miscible floods have been designed for continuous sol-
solvent. This undisplaced oil left in the solvent-swept vent injection, for solvent slugs driven by a miscible gas,
rock is analogous to the microscopic residual oil left after and for solvent slugs driven by water. In addition, many
waterflooding. In addition to subtracting from total oil process designs have called for alternate water injection
recovery, miscible-flood residual oil may cause reduced for mobility ratio improvement, either with the drive gas
solvent injectivity but an improved mobility ratio com- alone or with both the solvent slug and drive gas.
pared with complete oil displacement. The causes for a Essentially all first-contact miscible projects have used
miscible-flood residual oil saturation are primarily (1) relatively small slugs of LPG, approximately 1 to 12 %
trapping of oil by mobile water at water saturations hydrocarbon pore volume (HCPV), driven by natural
above the irreducible value, (2) bypassing of oil located gas. Laboratory research has shown that mixing of
in dead-end pores and low-permeability occlusions that oil/solvent/drive gas by dispersion,68 aggravated by
are not flushed by solvent, and (3) precipitation of viscous fingering, gravity tonguing, and channeling
hydrocarbons during vaporizing-gas drive or CO 2 caused by stratification, can rapidly dilute small solvent
flooding as a result of mixing into multiphase regions. slugs to concentrations that are no longer miscible. 69
Laboratory tests have shown that in some water-wet Fingering can also cause drive gas to physically breach a
sandstones mobile water can trap and shield part of the solvent slug and directly contact oil, with which it is
oil from a miscible solvent. 56-60 Reservoir simulations immiscible. 26
show that this trapping can significantly reduce oil Condensing-gas drive projects typically have used
818 JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY
larger slugs than in first-contact miscible flooding, condensing-gas drive projects with recovery expected for
usually greater than 10% HCPV and driven by natural immiscible dry-gas injection, and, of 31 projects ana-
gas. This is partly because the enriched-gas slug is less lyzed, he concluded that about 22 % had recovered an in-
concentrated in intermediate hydrocarbons and partly to cremental volume four times greater than the volume of
withstand fingering better. There have been several solvent slug, while incremental recovery did not even
gravity-stable condensing-gas drive projects in pinnacle equal the solvent slug volume in 26% of the projects. No
reefs where gravity was used to advantage to prevent difference was found between LPG and rich-gas drive
viscous fingering. 70,71 In these projects a primary design projects.
consideration was to size the enriched-gas slug to with- There are only a few published attempts to compare
stand dilution caused by dispersion and reservoir performance of secondary recovery first-contact miscible
heterogeneities. flooding proiects with anticipated waterflood perfor-
Continuous injection has been the rule in vaporizing- mance. 44 ,45,18 In these instances the miscible floods
gas drive projects, with produced gases being com- were believed to have recovered from 8 to 35 % more oil
pressed and reinjected. than would have been achieved by primary production
The trend in CO 2 flood projects has been to drive followed by waterflooding.
relatively large CO 2 slugs of 15 % HCPV or greater with Ultimate recovery for the Wizard Lake gravity-stable
water. The objective here is to improve miscible flood is anticipated to be about 84% OOIP. 63 ,72 By late
sweepout by achieving a favorable mobility ratio at the 1980, oil recovery had reached 61 % OOIP, about equal
trailing edge of the slug. The disadvantage of this to the recovery expected for continued primary depletion
method, of course, is that the displacement of CO 2 by by immiscible gas expansion and water drive.
water is immiscible, and a residual CO 2 saturation is left Floods in waterflooded or partially waterflooded reser-
in the reservoir. There has been at least one project voirs give a relatively direct measure of incremental
where CO 2 was driven by a miscible gas. 52 The recovery over waterflooding. Table I summarizes results
magnitude of oil recovery improvement attained by of seven tests of this type where data are available from
miscible-gas drive over water drive and whether or not publications. 80-85 Slug sizes ranged from 4 to 12 %
this improvement justifies the added expense of the drive HCPV, and incremental recovery actually measured at
gas are issues that are not completely resolved at this the time the project analysis was published ranged from
time. 3.7 to 13.5% OOIP at discovery. In one project in-
cremental recovery was projected by decline-curve
Field Test Behavior
analysis ultimately to be as high as 34% OOIP. Oil
First-Contact Miscible Projects recovered per gross barrel of LPG injected varied from
There have been more than 50 field tests of this method, about 0.5 to 1.5 STB/RB (1.5 stock-tank m 3/res m 3),
the majority being conducted in the 1950's and 1960's. and although data were not always available on LPG
Most were small pilot tests involving one or at most a production and recovery, ratios of oil recovered per net
few injection wells and with test sizes varying from barrel of LPG injected were in the range of 1 to 2
several tens to several hundred acres (50000 to 10 6 STB/RB (l stock-tank m 3!res m 3) for the few tests
m 2 ), although a few projects were fieldwide in scope where this information was available.
and involved several thousand acres. Most tests were in All the tertiary recovery tests of Table I except in the
sandstones and most were secondary-recovery floods. Phegly Unit were relatively small pilot tests involving at
The majority of projects were in reservoirs that were the most a few injection wells. The entire 785-acre (3.2
essentially horizontal; however, there have been several x 10 6 m 2) Phegly Unit was flooded through II injec-
gravity-stable floods in pinnacle reef reservoirs. 8,9,63,72 tion wells, and because of its size, this test may have the
Solvent slug sizes were primarily in the I to 12 % HCPV greatest validity. 82 Incremental recovery was 3.7 %
0
range. Oil gravities have ranged from 30 to 51 API OOIP for the 4 % HCPV LPG slug driven by alternate
(0.88 to 0.78 g/cm 3) with the majority between 36 and lean-gas/water injection.
42 0 API (0.84 and 0.82 g/cm 3). Breakthrough behavior for solvent and lean gas was
Field experience in secondary-recovery tests has generally similar to the behavior found in secondary-
shown that the process will displace oil in reservoirs con- recovery floods. Rapid breakthroughs were typical, and
taining an initial gas saturation and bank oil into a secon- often both solvent and drive gas appeared at producing
dary oil bank.73-75 Response resembles the response to wells almost simultaneously with first response of ter-
waterflooding - decreasing GaR's and increasing oil tiary oil or at least shortly thereafter. 81-84
productivity when the secondary oil bank arrives at pro- Field test conditions were too varied to establish
ducing wells. In most projects in horizontal reservoirs, anything but the roughest of correlations between slug
rapid breakthrough of both solvent and lean hydrocarbon size and performance. Fig. 7 shows incremental
drive gas occurred, such as the Pembina and Bisti tests recovery vs. slug size for the tertiary-recovery tests.
where solvent breakthrough was detected after injection Secondary-recovery tests at Pembina and Millican fields
of about 0.1 HCPV of fluids. 76,77 Often, oil bank, sol- performed poorly with slugs of I to 3 % HCPV and 1.5 %
vent, and drive-gas breakthrou~hs have occurred within HCPV, respectively. From the bulk of field experience,
a short time of each other. 4 ,73 In some projects a a slug size of 4 to 5 % HCPV seems to be about the
substantial fraction of the LPG was produced. Alternate minimum required for prudent design.
injection of water and lean gas slugs was believed to
slow the rate of GaR increase after breakthrough in Condensing-Gas Drive Projects
some projects. 44,45 There have been at least 19 condensing-gas
Craig 2 compared recoveries from both LPG and projects. 9,46-49,64,70,71,86-90 A few began in the
mid-1950's, but the majority of projects started during estimated to have recovered 5 to 10% OOIP.64 On the
the 1960's and early 1970's. other hand, operators of the South Swan Hills and
Most of these tests were larger in scope than the bulk Levelland secondary-recovery projects used reservoir
of first-contact miscible tests, often involving hundreds simulators to project incremental recoveries of 20 and
or occasionally thousands of acres. Some examples of 27% OOIP for slug sizes of approximately 15%
relatively large floods in horizontal reservoirs include HCPV. 48 ,49 A later comparison of South Swan Hills
Seeligson [877 acres (3.5 X 10 6 m 2)]64 and Lilliedoll performance with waterfloods in similar fields did not
[640 acres (2.6 x 10 6 m 2)] 90 in sandstones, and Ante contradict the original projections. 65 A somewhat lower
Creek [6,000 acres (24 X 10 6 m 2)), 47 South Swan Hills recovery is anticipated currently for Levelland as a result
[830 acres (3.4 x 10 6 m 2)), 49 and Levelland [1,190 of recent, unpublished studies. The South Swan Hills
acres (4.8 X 10 6 m 2)]48 in carbonates. and Levelland floods are no more than half completed,
The condensing-gas drive projects have been and it remains to be seen whether or not the projections
secondary-recovery floods predominantly. Oil gravities will be achieved.
ranged from 30 to 50° API (0.88 to 0.78 g/cm 3), and oil Results are available also from several tertiary-
viscosities generally have been less than about 2 cp recovery tests. Incremental recovery in the Central
(0.002 Pa' s). Slug sizes have ranged from 2 to > 50 % Mallet pilot test is 6 % OOIP after injection of about 20 %
HCPV and were > 10% HCPV in the majority of HCPV slug. 91 Incremental recovery varied considerably
projects. among the four patterns ultimately flooded at Lilliedoll
Gravity-stable displacements in reefal buildups have with a 15% HCPV slug, ranging from 0.2 to 1.6
been an important aspect of condensing-gas drive field STB/gross RB (0.2 to 1.6 stock-tank m 3/gross res m 3)
experience. Examples include Golden Spike 70 and of enriched-gas injected and averaging 0.8 STB/RB (0.8
various pools of the Rainbow field,9,71 all in Alberta, stock-tank m 3Ires m 3).90, *
Canada, and the Intisar D reef in Libya. 79,92,93 Generally, the gravity-stable floods in the Canadian
The Ante Creek, South Swan Hills, Levelland, Cen- pinnacle reefs appear to be performing satisfactorily, and
tral Mallet, 91 Intisar D,79 and Rainbow field projects operator evaluations have ranged from "promising" to
were still active in 1981. Most of these projects were 7 to "successful. ,,9 Projections made with a reservoir
13 years old at that time. simulator indicate that ultimate recovery for the Intisar D
The character of response to enriched-gas injection has reef in Libya could be 70% OOIP, or nearly 20 to 30%
been similar to that observed in first-contact miscible OOIP higher than would be achieved by waterflood-
floods. In secondary-recovery floods, GOR decreases as ing. 79 The Golden Spike flood in Canada was not suc-
the secondary oil bank arrives at producing wells and cessful. Performance was severely affected by
then increases as solvent and drive gas break through. permeability barriers to vertical flow that were un-
Limited tertiary recovery testing shows the process will suspected when the project was begun but discovered
displace waterflood residual oil to producing wells. 90,91 later by infill drilling. A subsequent analysis showed the
Rapid breakthroughs ·generally have been observed in 7.8% HCPV slug had only increased ultimate recovery
horizontal floods - after only 0.05 HCPV of injection at by about 3 % OOIP. 70
South Swan Hills and Levelland. Average breakthrough
sweepout at Seeligson was about 23 %. Gas production Vaporizing-Gas Drive Projects
after breakthrough was moderated in some projects by At least 11 projects of this type can be identified in the
alternate injection of enriched-gas and water. 46,48,49 literature. They typically have been large-scale floods in-
There has been a considerable range in observed/ volving thousands of surface acres. 94 ,96-104 Eight proj-
estimated incremental oil recovery for condensing-gas ects had more than 3,000 acres (12 X 10 6 m'2) under
drive projects. From calculations and comparisons with flood, 94,96-100, 102, 103, 105 and as many as 22,600 acres
waterfloods in similar reservoirs, the 52 % HCPV slug
injected in the Seeligson secondary-recovery project was 'Previously unpublished data. ARCO Oil & Gas Co. (1972).
Incremental Gross
Slug Size Breakthrough Recovery C0 2 /0il Ratio
Project (% HCPV) (% HCPV) (%OOIP) (Mcf/STB)
SACROC main flood 12 to 15 2 to 5 7' 6 to 7*
Phases I and II
SAC ROC tertiary 10 to 18 5 3.5 15 to 20
pilot
Willard Wasson 20 10' 8 to 12' 5 to 7*
Slaughter Estate 26 10 to 15 18 and 5 and
increasing decreasing
Twofreds 25 and 5 3 and 26
increasing increasing
Little Creek' , 160 15 18 24
Levelland 736 50 and 15 to 20 6 and 29 and
increasing increasing decreasing
• Calculated with miscible flood simulators utilizing test data.
"Based On total HCPV in test area including pinchout volume.
0 >-
cr:
w 60 w 15
f-
aw >
x.<c--t- 0 ~
-,
50 c'<?' a
~ ~S
w 6
a N 'v\~
cr: 0 , , - WILLARD-WASSON (CALC.)
W 0 -' f- ,/' (20% SLUG)
a a 40 <{
z
f- w
10
~
a > w z a
w
0 >= 30 :::; cr:
cr: <{
Cl- -'
w w
cr: ~ I.
/, "
N~
:::; 20
a 5 / ' . / " " LEVELLAND 736 (50% SLUG)
0 ~
a ~
>!'"
~
a /, SACROC TERTIARY PILOT
f- 10 o'<<?' \i:: ( 10-18% SLUG)
Z
w ".if.
a 0
cr: o~~~--~--------~------~------~
w 0 05 1.0 15 2.0 o 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
~
TOT AL HCPV INJECTED (C02' H2O) TOTAL HCPV INJECTED (C02+H20)
Fig. 5-C0 2 production in field tests. Fig. 6-lncremental oil production in CO 2 field tests.
(i.e., C02 or CO 2 plus water). This is illustrated in Fig. no direct measure of incremental oil. Simulator projec-
5, which also shows that CO 2 production immediately tions, after history matching performance, indicated an
after breakthrough generally has not been excessive. ultimate recovery of about 7% OOIP for slug sizes that
Corrective measures such as alternate water injec- varied between 12 and 15% HCPV.
tion,50,51 zonal isolation, 50 and reducing the injection Incremental production for the selected projects shown
pressure 5I have been partially successful in moderating in Fig. 7 began after injection of about 0.1 to 0.2 HCPV
CO 2 production. Nonetheless, ultimate production of a of total fluid. After a period of almost linear increase in
significant fraction of the CO 2 slug should be an- incremental recovery with cumulative injection, the
ticipated, and facilities will be required for handling and recovery curves bend over and gradually approach the
reinjecting the produced CO 2 , In some cases facilities ultimate recovery value. As in hydrocarbon-miscible
may be needed to extract the CO 2 from the total pro- floods, first incremental recovery in the tertiary-recovery
duced gas stream if the level of contamination would in- CO 2 floods has occurred either shortly before or coin-
terfere with displacement efficiency. cidentally with C02 breakthrough, and the bulk of in-
Table 2 shows incremental oil recovery and gross cremental oil is produced concurrently with the C02.
CO 2/oil ratio for selected field trials. In this table gross Lower-than-anticipated CO 2 injectivity has been
CO 2/oil ratio is defined as the ratio of total CO 2 injected observed in a number of field trials. 52,55 This seems to
(makeup plus recycle) to the incremental oil recovery. be particularly true in the low-temperature carbonate
Fig. 6 shows incremental oil production history for reservoirs of west Texas. Lower-than-anticipated water
selected CO 2 projects. injectivity has also been observed when CO 2 and water
Incremental recovery has ranged from a low of about were injected alternately. 52 However, injectivity in the
3.5% OOIP to a high of about 18% OOIP. Gross Willard Wasson test, even with alternate injection of
CO 2 /oil ratio has ranged from 5 to 26 scf/STB (890 to CO 2 and water, did not deteriorate appreciably after fill-
4630 std m 3 / stock-tank m 3 ). The Slaughter Estate up.51
tertiary-recovery pilot test has been by far the best per- Operating problems have been more severe than in
former. 52,91 Ultimate recovery for the 26% HCPV slug waterflooding, with corrosion, leaks, and scaling being
in this 12-acre (48 600-m 2 ) test is 18% OOIP and in- mentioned in addition to precipitation of a heavy
creasing, while gross CO 2/oil ratio is about 5 Mcf/STB hydrocarbon from the crude occasionally being ob-
(890 std m 3 / stock-tank m 3) and decreasing. In contrast, served. Several excellent articles have been published
ultimate recovery for the 80-acre (324 OOO-m 3) concerning operating practices in CO 2
SACROC tertiary recovery pilot test was only 3.5% floods. 50,51 ,55, 106, 118-121
OOIP for a 10 to 18% HCPV slug at a gross CO 2/oil
ratio of 15 to 20 Mcf/STB (2670 to 3560 std m 3 / stock- Comparison of Processes
tank m 3 ). 109 CO 2/oil ratio will also be relatively high in Incremental recovery and slug effectiveness in C02
the Levelland No. 736, 1.5-acre (6070-m2) tertiary- floods are compared with these quantities from first-
recovery test. CO 2 injected at Levelland currently contact and condensing-gas drive miscible floods in
amounts to about 50% HCPV, but recovery is only 6% Figs. 7 and 8 for selected projects where there are suffi-
OOIP. 91 The low recovery at Levelland for the large cient data to make the comparisons. Slug effectiveness is
slug size is attributed by the project operator to an unex- defined here to be the incremental oil recovered per gross
pectedly low oil saturation in the thoroughly waterflood- reservoir barrel of miscible fluid injected. In condensing-
ed pilot test location. All three tests were in stratified gas drive projects, the miscible fluid was considered to
carbonate formations. be the lean gas/LPG mixture injected, rather than the
The largest field trial to date, the SAC ROC main LPG only. Conceptually, for a given process in a given
flood, 50 was a secondary-recovery flood, and there was reservoir, incremental recovery should increase and slug
822 JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY
30
a. LEGEND:
0 25 • FIRST·CONTACT MISCIBLE
0
";? • RICH·GAS DRIVE
>-' .?
.
• C02 FLOOD LEGEND:
a: 20 .?
? ESTIMATED FROM SIMULATIONS
w
> .?
1 OR COMPARISONS BUT NOT 0 -
• FIRST ·CONT ACT MISCIBLE
0 MEASURED DIRECTLY -In • RICH·GAS DRIVE
()
w 15 ~a:
. .?
. ...JC)
~,
MEASURED DIRECTLY
.1 . .-
w 1 DIRECTION OF INCREASE
~
w
a:
()
5
•?
1
.-
1
...J1n
-I-
o~
~
o O~--L---~--~--~--~--~--~~--~~
o 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 150 160 o 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 150 160
SLUG SIZE, % HCPV SLUG SIZE, % HCPV
Fig. 7-lncremental recovery from miscible·flood field tests. Fig. 8-Slug effectiveness in miscible-flood field tests.
effectiveness should decrease with increasing slug size, esses, with production of the bulk of incremental oil con-
and these concepts are roughly supported by Figs, 7 currently with solvent and drive gas.
and 8. 4. Greatest field trial success to date has been
It should be kept in mind that incremental recovery achieved with the vaporizing-gas drive method, probably
and slug effectiveness depend on many other variables because the miscible fluid has been injected continuously
besides slug size, such as reservoir heterogeneity, rather than as a slug and because mobility ratio for these
temperature and pressure, crude oil composition, and floods has been more favorable on average. The process
flow regime, to mention just a few. These conditions has had limited application, however, because of the
varied widely between the tests shown in these figures, high miscibility-pressure requirement.
which should introduce a substantial data-point scatter, 5. A low miscibility-pressure requirement often is a
even for projects of a given process type, when results significant advantage of COrmiscible flooding. This
are plotted as a function of slug size only, Comparisons process could have significant future application in areas
are further clouded because there is little overlap be- with economical CO 2 supplies from natural deposits or
tween slug sizes used in the first-contact miscible floods surface sources.
and the other processes. Within the data scatter there is 6. Incremental recovery ranged from about 3 to 20%
no clear-cut evidence that on average a given process is OOIP for 16 first-contact miscible, condensing-gas
technically performing appreciably better or worse than drive, and CO 2 -flood projects where this quantity could
the others for a given slug size. This is not to say that one be estimated from field data. Slug sizes of the miscible
process may not actually perform superior to the others injection fluids in these projects ranged from 4 to 160%
for given reservoir conditions, but no overall trend is evi- HCPV, and with few exceptions incremental recovery
dent in the composite field data. was less than 1 STB/ gross RB (1 stock-tank m 3 / gross res
The data of Fig. 8 suggest that enriched-gas slugs are m 3) of miscible fluid injected, even for the smallest slug
performing as effectively as would the same size first- sizes.
contact miscible slug. Admittedly the data to support this 7. Within the data scatter for these 16 projects, there is
conclusion are extremely limited, but if true, the LPG is no clear-cut evidence that on average one process has
being utilized more effectively in the enriched-gas slugs performed appreciably better or worse than another for a
since they contain only 30 to 50% LPG. given slug size.
Conclusions
1. After 30 years' research, there is a considerable References
body of knowledge concerning the mechanisms of 1. Craig, F.F. Jr. and Owens, W.W.: "Miscible Slug Flooding-
miscibility and fluid flow. Even so, advances are needed A Review," 1. Pet. Tech. (April 1960) 11-15.
2. Craig, F.F. Jr.: "A Current Appraisal of Field Miscible Slug
in a number of important areas such as: improved Projects," 1. Pet. Tech. (May 1970) 529-36.
understanding oflow-temperature CO 2 -flood miscibility 3. Brownscombe, E.R., McNeese, CR., and Miller, CC: "Im-
and of the factors affecting CO 2 mobility; improved proved Oil Recovery by Miscible Displacement," Proc., Sixth
understanding of sweepout for tertiary recovery, slug World Pet. Cong., Frankfurt, West Germany (1963) 2,563-75.
4. Craig, D.R. and Bray, J.A.: "Gas Injection and Miscible
processes, and dynamic miscibility; and improved Flooding," Proc., Eighth World Pet. Cong., Moscow (1971) 3,
predictive methods and/or guidelines for slug processes 275-85.
for selecting between a miscible and immiscible drive 5. Bleakley, W.B.: "Journal Survey Shows Recovery Projects
fluid and for estimating optimal slug size. Up," Oil and Gas 1. (March 25, 1974) 69-78.
2. All the miscible processes are applicable for both 6. "U .S. Pushes Enhanced-Recovery Effort," Inti. Petroleum En-
cyclopedia, Petroleum Publishing Co., Tulsa (1977) 282-94.
secondary or tertiary recovery in sandstone or carbonate 7. "Gas Miscible Projects Move at a Slow Pace," Oil and Gas 1.
reservoirs. (AprilS, 1976) 126-27.
3. In horizontal floods, relatively early solvent and ~. "Canadian Enhanced-Recovery Activity Is Moderate, Centers on
drive-gas breakthroughs should be expected for all proc- Thermal Projects," Oil and Gas 1. (AprilS, 1976) 128-29.