Modelling And Experimental Measurement Of Solution Gas / Solvent Dissolution And Exsolution In Heavy Oil

Foamy oil is commonly observed phenomenon during cold primary production of heavy oil reservoirs. Along with the pressure depletion, a type of anomalous flow of oil and gas phases appears when pressure is lower than the thermodynamic saturation pressure. Foamy oil is believed to bring positive effects to heavy oil recovery and well productivity by promoting favored fluid properties and oil swelling. The proposed study focuses on the description of the complex phase behavior of foamy oil systems to examine equilibrium versus non-equilibrium behaviour at different depressurization rates. It will provide deeper insight of the fundamental mechanisms associated with foamy oil evolution process, verify the influence of supersaturation of foamy oil on recovery performance, and establish a methodology to accurately determine the true thermodynamic bubble point pressure. Finally, numerical models which consider the thermodynamic and dynamic aspects for foamy oil phase behavior will be developed for field scale simulation.

Faculty Supervisor:

Na Jia

Student:

Acer Helali

Partner:

Petroleum Technology Research Centre

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Other

University:

Program: