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Displacement Theory of Low-Tension Gas Flooding

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Abstract

Low-tension gas (LTG) flooding is a promising chemical enhanced oil recovery technique in tight sandstone and carbonate reservoirs where polymer may not be used because of plugging and degradation issues. This process has been the subject of many experimental studies. However, theoretical investigation of the LTG process is scarce in the literature. Hence, in this study, we lay out a displacement theory for LTG flooding, with a constant mobility reduction factor, which lays the groundwork for further theoretical studies. The proposed model is based on the three-phase flow of water, oil, and gas in the presence of a water-soluble surfactant component. Under the developed model, we study the effect of MRF and oil viscosity on the flow dynamics and oil recovery. Moreover, we explain experimental observations on early gas breakthrough that occurs during LTG core floods even in the presence of a stable foam drive.

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Notes

  1. Reservoir simulators generate saturation versus distance. To be able to compare the results from the simulator to our model, we have to convert distance to wave speed or vice versa. For consistency, we decided to convert distance to wave speed. We obtained wave speed for a profile at a particular pore volume, \(t_D\), using the relation: wave speed \(= x_D/t_D = x/Lt_D\). The length of our core is 100 \(\mathrm {ft}\), and we used saturation profiles at 0.1 PVs; hence the scaling relation between wave speed and distance is: wave speed \(= x/(100\times 0.1) = x/10\). Had we used profiles at 0.2 PVs, the scaling relation would be wave speed \(= x/20\).

  2. Note that some of the relative permeability parameters in the first phase environment are different from their counterparts in the second phase environment.

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Acknowledgements

We highly appreciate Dr. Mahdi Haddad at the Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, at The University of Texas at Austin for the meticulous technical and verbal edition of this manuscript.

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  1. Department of Petroleum Engineering, University of Texas, Austin, TX, 78780, USA

    Mehran Mehrabi, Kamy Sepehrnoori & Mojdeh Delshad

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  1. Mehran Mehrabi
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  2. Kamy Sepehrnoori
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  3. Mojdeh Delshad
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Correspondence to Mehran Mehrabi.

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Mehrabi, M., Sepehrnoori, K. & Delshad, M. Displacement Theory of Low-Tension Gas Flooding. Transp Porous Med 142, 475–491 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-022-01753-z

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