Gas Injection

The Displacement of Oil by Gas, with and without

Gravitational Segregation

Due to the high oil-gas viscosity ratios and the high gas-oil relative permeability ratios at
low gas saturations, the displacement efficiency by gas is generally much lower than that
by water, unless the gas displacement is accompanied by substantial gravitational
segregation. This is basically the same reason for the low recoveries from reservoirs
produced under the dissolved gas drive mechanism. The effect of gravitational
segregation in water-drive oil reservoirs is usually of much less concern because of the
higher displacement efficiencies and the lower oil-water density differences, whereas the
converse is generally true for gas-oil systems. As with water displacement, a linear
system is assumed, and a constant gas pressure throughout the system is also assumed so
that a constant throughput rate may be used. Assuming the connate water is essentially
immobile, so that the fraction of the flowing reservoir fluid volume, which is gas, is

(1)

The total velocity is vt, which is the total throughput rate divided by the cross-sectional
area Ac. The reservoir gas density, ρg, is in lbm/ft3. The constant (0.00694) that appears in
Eqs. (1) and (2) is a result of multiplying 0.433 and 62.4 lbm/ft3, the density of water.
When capillary forces are neglected, as they are in this application, the pressure gradients
in the oil and gas phases are equal.

(2)

Substituting the pressure gradient of Eq. (2) in Eq. (1),

(3)
Expanding and multiplying through by (ko/kg)(μg/μo),

(4)

But νo/νt is the fraction of oil flowing, which equals 1 minus the gas flowing, (1 – fg).
Then, finally,
 (5)

The relative permeability ratio (kro/krg) may be used for the effective permeability ratio
in the denominator of Eq. (5); however, the permeability to oil, ko, in the numerator is the
effective permeability and cannot be replaced by the relative permeability. It may,
however, be replaced with (krok), where k is the absolute permeability. The total velocity,
νt, is the total throughput rate, divided by the cross-sectional area, Ac. Inserting these
equivalents, the fractional gas flow equation with gravitational segregation becomes

(6)

If the gravitational forces are small, Eq. (6) reduces to;

(7)

Although Eq. (7) is not rate sensitive (i.e., it does not depend on the throughput rate), Eq.
(6) includes the throughput velocity and is therefore rate sensitive. Since the total
throughput rate, is in the denominator of the gravitational term of Eq. (6), rapid
displacement (i.e., large) reduces the size of the gravitational term, and so causes an
increase in the fraction of gas flowing, fg. A large value of fg implies low displacement
efficiency. If the gravitational term is sufficiently large, fg becomes zero, or even
negative, which indicates countercurrent flow of gas updip and oil downdip, resulting in
maximum displacement efficiency. In the case of a gas cap that overlies most of an oil
zone, the drainage is vertical, and cos α = 1.00; in addition, the cross-sectional area is
large. If the vertical effective permeability ko is not reduced to a very low level by low
permeability strata, gravitational drainage will substantially improve recovery.

The use of Eq. (6) is illustrated using the data given by Welge for the Mile Six Pool,
Peru, where advantage was taken of good gravitational segregation characteristics to
improve recovery. Pressure maintenance by gas injection has been practiced since 1933
by returning produced gas and other gas to the gas cap so that reservoir pressure has been
maintained within 200 psi of its initial value. Figure (1) shows the average relative
permeability characteristics of the Mile Six Pool reservoir rock. As is common in gas-oil
systems, the saturations are expressed in percentages of the hydrocarbon porosity, and
the connate water, being immobile, is considered as part of the rock. The other pertinent
reservoir rock and fluid data are given in Table (1). Substituting these data in Eq. (8),

(8)

The values of fg have been calculated in Table (1) for three conditions (1) assuming
negligible gravitational segregation by using Eq. (7); (2) using the gravitational term
equal to 2.50kro for the Mile Six Pool, Eq. (8); and (3) assuming the gravitational term
equals 1.25kro, or half the value at Mile Six Pool. The values of fg for these three
conditions are shown plotted in Fig. (2). The negative values of fg for the conditions that
existed in the Mile Six Pool indicate countercurrent gas flow (i.e., gas updip and oil
downdip) in the range of gas saturations between an assumed critical gas saturation of 5%
and about 17%.
 2

The distance of advance of any gas saturation plane may be calculated for the Mile Six
Pool, using equation below,

In 100 days, then,

(9)

The values of the derivatives (∂fg/∂Sg) given in Table (1) have been determined
graphically from Fig. (2). Figure (3) shows the plots of Eq. (9) to obtain the gas-oil
distributions and the positions of the gas front after 100 days. The shape of the curves
will not be altered for any other time. The distribution and fronts at 1000 days, for
example, may be obtained by simply changing the scale on the distance axis by a factor
of 10.
 3

Welge showed that the position of the front may be obtained by drawing a secant from
the origin as shown in Fig. (3). For example, the secant is tangent to the lower curve at
40% gas saturation. Then, in Fig. (3), the front may be found by dropping a perpendicular
from the 40% gas saturation as indicated. This will balance the areas of the S-shaped
curve, which was done by trial and error for water displacement. In the case of water
displacement, the secant should be drawn, not from the origin, but from the connate water
saturation.
The much greater displacement efficiency with gravity segregation than without is
apparent from Fig. (3). Since the permeability to oil is essentially zero at 60% gas
saturation, the maximum recovery by gas displacement and gravity drainage is 60% of
the initial oil in place.
Actually, some small permeability to oil exists at even very low oil saturations, which
explains why some fields may continue to produce at low rates for quite long periods
after the pressure has been depleted. The displacement efficiency may be calculated from
Fig. (3) by the measurement of areas. For example, the displacement efficiency at Mile
Six Pool with full gravity segregation is in excess of

If the gravity segregation had been half as effective, the recovery would have been about
60%; without gravity segregation, the recovery would have been only 24%. These
recoveries are expressed as percentages of the recoverable oil. In terms of the initial oil
in place, the recoveries are only 60% as large, or 52.4%, 36.0%, and 14.4%, respectively.

One interesting application of gravity segregation is to the recovery of updip or “attic” oil
in active water-drive reservoirs possessing good gravity segregation characteristics.
When the structurally highest well(s) has gone to water production, high-pressure gas is
injected for a period. This gas migrates updip and displaces the oil downdip, where it
may be produced from the same well in which the gas was injected. The injected gas is,
of course, unrecoverable.
It appears from the previous discussions and examples that water is generally more
efficient than gas in displacing oil from reservoir rocks, mainly because (1) the water
viscosity is of the order of 50 times the gas viscosity and (2) the water occupies the less
conductive portions of the pore spaces, whereas the gas occupies the more conductive
portions. Thus, in water displacement, the oil is left to the central and more conductive
portions of the pore channels, whereas in gas displacement, the gas invades and occupies
the more conductive portions first, leaving the oil and water to the less conductive
portions. What has been said of water displacement is true for preferentially water wet
(hydrophilic) rock, which is the case for most reservoir rocks. When the rock is
preferentially oil wet (hydrophobic), the displacing water will invade the more conductive
portions first, just as gas does, resulting in lower displacement efficiencies. In this case,
the efficiency by water still exceeds that by gas because of the viscosity advantage that
water has over gas.