Prediction of Recovery in Unstable Miscible Flooding
Authors: Claridge E.L. 
Published: December 2007

A new correlation bas been developed for estimating oil recovery in unstable miscible five-spot pattern floods. It combines existing methods of predicting areal coverage and linear displacement efficiency and was used to calculate oil recovery for a series of assumed slug sizes in a live-spot CO2 slug-waterflood pilot test. The economic optimum slug size varies with CO2 cost; at anticipated CO2 costs the pilot would generate an attractive profit if performance is as predicted

Introduction

Selection of good field prospects for application of oil recovery processes other than waterflooding is often difficult. The principal reason is that other proposed displacing agents are far more costly proposed displacing agents are far more costly than water and usually sweep a lesser fraction of the volume of an oil reservoir (while displacing oil more efficiently from this fraction). Such agents must be used in limited amounts as compared with water; and this amount must achieve an appreciable additional oil recovery above waterflooding recovery. For these reasons, there is in general much less economic margin for engineering error in processes other than waterflooding. The general characteristics of the various types of supplemental recovery processes are well known, and adequate choices can be made of processes to be considered in more detail with respect to a given field. Comparative estimates must then be made of process performance and costs in order to narrow the choice. A much more detailed, definitive process-and-economic evaluation is eventually process-and-economic evaluation is eventually required of the chosen process before an executive decision can be made to commit large amounts of money to such projects. It is in the area between first choice and final engineering evaluation that this work applies. A areal cusping and vertical coning into producing wells. These effects can be seated by existing "desk-drawer" correlation which can confirm or deny the engineer's surmise that he has an appropriate match of recovery process and oil reservoir characteristics is of considerable value in determining when to undertake the costly and often manpower-consuming task of a definitive process-and-economic evaluation. process-and-economic evaluation. An examination of the nature of the developed crude oil resources in the U.S. indicates that the majority of the crude oil being produced is above 35 degrees API gravity and exists in reservoirs deeper than 4,000 ft. The combination of hydrostatic pressure on these oil reservoirs, the natural gas usually present in the crude oil in proportion to this pressure, the reservoir temperatures typically found, and the distribution of molecular sizes and types in the crude oil corresponding to the API gravity results in the fact that, in the majority of cases, the in-place crude oil viscosity was originally no more than twice that of water. A large proportion of these oil reservoirs have undergone pressure decline, gas evolution and consequent increase in crude oil viscosity. However, an appreciable proportion are still at such a pressure and proportion are still at such a pressure and temperature that miscibility can be readily attained with miscible drive agents such as propane or carbon dioxide, and the viscosity of the crude oil is such that the mobility of these miscible drive agents is no more than 50 time s that of the crude oil. Under these circumstances, a possible candidate situation for the miscible-drive type of process may exist. process may exist. Supposing that such a situation is under consideration, the next question is: what specific miscible drive process, and how should it be designed to operate? In some cases, the answer is clear: when the reservoir has a high degree of vertical communication (high permeability and continuity of the permeable, oil-bearing pore space in the vertical direction), then a gravity-stabilized miscible flood is the preferred mode of operation; and the particular drive agent or agents can be chosen on the basis of miscibility requirements, availability and cost.

SPEJ

P. 143