Phase Behaviour, Fluid Properties and Recovery Efficiency of Immiscible and Miscible Condensate Displacements by SCCO2 Injection: Experimental Investigation

Abstract

This paper presents a quantitative investigation of the interfacial tension dependent relative permeability (IFT-DRP) and displacement efficiency of supercritical CO2 injection into gas-condensate reservoirs. A high-pressure high-temperature experimental laboratory was established to simulate reservoir conditions and to perform relative permeability measurements on sandstone cores at a constant reservoir temperature of 95°C and displacement velocity of 10 cm/h. This investigation covers immiscible displacements (1100 and 2100 psi), near-miscible displacement (3000 psi) and miscible displacements (4500 and 5900 psi).The coreflooding results demonstrated that displacement pressure is a key factor governing the attainment of optimum sweep efficiency. The ultimate condensate recovery increased by almost threefold when CO2 was injected at near-miscible conditions (i.e., 23.40% ultimate recovery at 1100 psi compared to 69.70% at 3000 psi). Miscible flooding was found to give the optimum condensate recovery (9% extra ultimate recovery compared to near-miscible injection). Besides improving the ultimate recovery, miscible floods provided better mobility ratios and delayed gas breakthrough (0.62 PV BT at 5900 psi compared to 0.21 PV BT at 1100 psi). In addition to the elimination of IFT forces in miscible displacements, favourable ratios of fluid properties and phase behaviour relationships between the SCCO2 and condensate were believed to be the driving force for the improved recovery as they provided a stabilising effect on the displacement front and stimulated swelling of the condensate volume.This paper incorporates the theoretical aspects of phase behaviour and fluid properties that largely affect the microscopic displacement efficiency and serves as a practical guideline for operators to aid their project designs and enhance their recovery capabilities.