SPE 39659

Screening of Oil Reservoirs for Gravity Assisted Gas Injection

B. Lepski, University of Alberta, Z. Bassiouni, Louisiana State University, J.M. Wolcott, FIA
Solutions
Copyright 1998, Sodoty of Petroleum Engineers, Inc.
This paper was preparad for presentaron at the 1998 SPE/DOE Improved Oil
Recovery Symposium held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 19-22 April 1998.
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE Program Committee
following review of information contained in an abstrae! submitted by the
author(s). Contents of the paper, as presented, have not been reviewed by the
Sodety of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s)
The material, as presented, does not necassarily reflect any position of the
Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members, Papers presented at
SPE meetings are subject to publication review by Editorial Committees of the
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Abstract
Corefloods and field investigations confirmed that
incremental oil can be recovered from dipping waterdrive reservoirs using gravity assisted gas injection
processes such as Double Displacement Process
(DDP), and Second Contact Water Displacement
(SCWD). Transparent cell experiments support the
presumption of film flow of water-displacementresidual oil and the dependeney of these methods
efficiency on fluid distribution within the pore space.
The ability of oil to form a film is quantitatively
expressed by the spreading coefficient defined in terms
of interfacial and surface tensions of the phases
involved.
The drop volume and pendant drop techniques
were adapted to provide rapid and convenient methods
for the measurement of IFT at high-pressure and high
temperature conditions. The interfacial and surface
tensin properties of several fluid systems were
investigated.
IFT measurements of systems used in the corefloods support the belief that a positive spreading
coefficient is needed for an efficient recovety of
residual oil. IFT measurements proved also that
injection of nitrogen is more beneficial than methane to
the creation of an oil film that Controls incremental oil
recovery efficiency.
The simplicity of the adapted IFT setup, combined
with its ability to perform a large number of
measurements, may result in the development of an
empirical screening criteria needed in the selection of
reservoirs suitable for DDP and SCWD processes.

Introduction
The Double Displacement Process (DDP) involves updip gas injection in a water-invaded oil zone in order to
mobilize and produce incremental oil 1. The incremental
oil results from the difference in residual oil saturation
in the presence of water as compared to that in the
presence of gas. Gravity stable displacement causes the
formation of an oil bank which collects oil as it
migrates downward in the reservoir towards the
producing well. A simplified schematic of a DDP
candidate reservoir is shown in Fig. 1. Under favorable
reservoir conditions, incremental oil on the order of
40% of the initial oil-in-place may be recovered using
DDP. The schematic of the reservoir subjected to DDP
is shown in Fig. 2. When conditions are favorable, the
duration of the DDP may be shortened by introducing
Second Contact Water Displacement (SCWD). SCWD
is an extensin of the DDP and in principie gas
injection is followed with down-dip water invasin,
preferentially from a strong water aquifer. Schematic
illustrating the SCWD is shown in Fig. 3.
In order to recover water-displacement-residual
oil, we must restore its effective permeability. By

injecting gas, water is displaced from pores where oil

globules are trapped. For initially water-wet systems
capillary forces cause oil to spread between the water
coating the pore wall and the gas bubble occupying the
center of the pore. This creates conditions for film-flow
reconnecting the oil in the gas invaded zone. The
reconnected oil flows downward due to gravity forces
and creates an oil bank. Oil gravity drainage process is
controlled by fluid density difference, reservoir dip,
fluids viscosity, and oil effective permeability
DDP has already been tried in several fields and
yielded promising results. The Weeks Island field DDP
with C02 and methane was completed by Shell 2. The
Hawkins Field DDP nitrogen injection project operated
by Exxon1,3, and the West Hackberry DDP air injection
project operated by Amoco are currently in progress 4. A
new process conceptually similar to SCWD was
implemented in Bonnie Glen reservoir operated by
Imperial O i l .

Reservoir Screening Criteria

The DDP and SCWD can be economical EOR methods
for reservoirs with substantial oil left after water
invasin, assuming sufFicient permeability, bed dip and
oil viscosity for gravity drainage. Based on a numerical
simulation study, a good candidate for DDP should
have permeability of 300 md or more and dip angle
over 10 deg. The study showed that lower permeability
has more detrimental effect on process efficiency than
lower dip angle6.
Numerous investigators pointed out the role of
fluid distribution within the pore space. The
phenomenon called spreading coefficient was found to
control both gas displacement efficiency and three
phase oil and gas relative permeabilities 78,9,10,11, . In all
investigated cases, positive spreading coefficient
indicating oil film formation on water was beneficial to
the recovery processes in water-wet media.
The spreading coefficient is given by the following
equation13:
Saw

~
0

@og ~
)

Con"

Where:
S'o w = final spreading coefficient of oil over water,
mN/m awg = water - gas interfacial tensin, mN/m
cr0g = oil - gas interfacial tensin, mN/m cxow = oil
- water interfacial tensin, mN/m.
When S'uw is positive, oil tends to spread on water
and form a continuous film. When S'(l is negative, oil
does not spread on water.
Several investigators reported that highest oil
recoveries in water-wet media were observed for
positive S'ow fluid system11,12. Lower oil recoveries in
oil-wet media were attributed to capillary retention
forces. There was no detectable difference between
positive and negative S'o/w fluid systems in oil-wet
experiments11. Both drainage and imbibition oil relative
permeabilities were higher for positive- spreading
coefficient12.
The spreading coefficient is the key to the
feasibility of the DDP. Representative vales of
interfacial tensin between each pair of fluids involved
are needed to estmate the spreading coefficient.

10

Interfacial Tensin

and J.M.
Pendant
Drop.
B. LEPSKI, Z. BASSIOUNI,
WOLCOTT

Since IFT measurements required by the

petroleum industry often involve high pressure and high
temperature (HPHT) conditions, the Pendant Drop method is
most widely used. Another method, Drop Volume, which is
not yet available for HPHT was investigated as a part of this
research and yielded promising results for HPHT IFT
measurement applications.
In Pendant Drop method, a drop hanging from a
capillary tip (or a clinging bubble) elongates as it grows
larger. The drop shape is used in calculation of the IFT 1 .
IFT, o, can be calculated quickly using following
algorithm16:

Interfacial tensin (IFT) results from imbalance of

molecular forces at the interface between two dissimilar
phases. Commonly, the term interfacial tensin is used to
describe the tensin at a liquid-liquid interface while surface
tensin refers to the tensin between liquid and gas. The IFT
is the forc per unit length required to increase the area of
the interface by one unit. It is usually expressed in dynes/cm
or mN/m which are numerically equal.
IFT is measured using a number of methods such as
Wilhelmy Pate, Du Nouy Ring, Capillary Rise, Sessile
Drop, Spinning Drop, Mximum Bubble Pressure,
Oscillating Jet, Drop Volume (or weight), Surface Waves
a =ApgR02//3

(2)

y=0.12836-0.75775+1.7713^-0.54253

(3)

R0 = 4/[2(0.9987+0.1971/2-0.0734^ 2-QM/3j)]

(4)
methane. A Through Window Ruska PVT Cell Model 2329800-00 (Fig. 6) and Ruska Constant Temperature Air Bath
Model 2320 were adapted to IFT measurements. High
pressure, positive displacement pump was used for fluid
injections. Recombined oil was injected via a transfer vessel
with distilled water as driving fluid. The transfer vessel used
for IFT measurements has a capacity of 250 cc. Transfer
vessel was heated in the air bath together with PVT Cell.
The system upper pressure and temperature limits are 5000
psi and 350 F. These ranges cover conditions common to
candidate reservoirs. A schematic of the setup used for IFT
measurements is shown in Fig. 7.
In order to perform the measurement with sufficient
accuracy and simplicity, the pendant drop formed in the
PVT Cell was filmed using a video camera equipped with a
set of additional close-ups. The video camera was capable
of magnication up to 16X using optical zoom and 160X
using digital zoom. Magnifcation scale used for
measurements varied from 12 to 15 X. The image produced
by this optical system was free from noticeable optical
distortions. The video camera signal was taped on VCR
using a high-grade tape to improve the quality of still
images. Selected frames containing images of the drop were
later transferred to a Computer using the Frame Capture
software. Frame Capture software provided resolution up to
1500x1125. Drop dimensions were later measured using
Jandel SigmaScan measuring software. A typical pendant
drop as displayed by the SigmaScan software is shown in
Fig. 8.
For pendant drop IFT measurements, the high pressure
Ruska PVT Cell was adapted to accommodate a detachable
capillary. In our case, a 22 gauge (2.0955 mm OD) syringe
needle, which was cut and polished to obtain a fat top was
used. The capillary mount was made from a standard
surgical Steel syringe connector cut out from the syringe
and screwed on a piece of 1/8 stainless Steel tubing fitted
with a standard 1/8 Swagelok connector. One of the PVT
Cell endcaps was adapted to accommodate a 1/8 standard
Swagelok connector, which served as an inlet for measured

Where:
Ap = measured fluid density difference,
kg/m3 g = gravitational constant, m/s2 4=
mximum drop diameter, m S = shape
factor, S = d/de, as shown in Fig. 4.
An IFT measurement using Drop Volume method is
made by pumping the light phase into the dense phase at
constant flow rate. Drops form at the tip of the specially
designed capillary, Fig. 5, and IFT is calculated using Eq. 5.
cr, = [ Vl/mp(pH-pL)g]/(nd)
Where:
pH = density of the heavy phase, kg/m3 pL
= density of the light phase, kg/m3 Vdmp =
volume of the drop, m3 g = acceleration of
gravity, m/s2 d = inside diameter of the tip,
m
To avoid necessary corrections due to liquid that can
wet and accumulate on the tip, a very sharp tip is used17.
In case of hydrocarbon mixtures, surface tensin can be
also calculated based on the composition of the mixture at
given pressure and temperature18. Empirical correlations to
calclate surface tensin of oil exist19. There is no widely
accepted method of calculating water-hydrocarbon gas and
water-oil interfacial tensions. Methods proposed to estmate
gas-water IFT and oil-water IFT, are rather inaccurate 20,21.
The effect of dissolved solids in water in both cases is
unknown22.

Interfacial
Tensin
Reservoir Conditions

Measurements

Under

IFT measurements needed for spreading coefficient

calculations have to be performed under reservoir
temperature and pressure conditions. Representative
reservoir oil phase was obtained by recombining oil and

39659

39659 fluids.

SCREENING
OF OIL
ASSISTED
GAS
The schematic of the capillary
housing
is RESERVOIRS
shown in FOR GRAVITY
rather than
dozens
ofINJECTION
drops provide some beneflts for
Fig. 9.
measurements where time is a factor such as those involving
The size of the capillary was similar to the sizes
strong surfactant solutions. Since only the volume of the
typically used for IFT measurements performed by the oil
drop is required for IFT calculation, assuming the drop to be
industry2 . The selection of the capillary size and resulting
spherical only the diameter of the drop need be measured.
drop size was also determined by the size of the window of
Distances were calibrated using OD of the capilllary tip.
the Ruska PVT cell (6.35 mm wide). Depending on the
This simplifled method can be further refined using
measured fluid system density difference, the capillary was
sophisticated volume calculation considering the actual
mounted in the top or in the bottom of the PVT cell as
shape of the drop. An example of drop volume processing is
shown in Fig. 10. Since the drop had to be visible, the
shown in Fig. 12.
continuous phase had to be transparent.
If gas is bubbled through the liquid at ambient pressure,
Pendant drops were formed by injecting the
the bubble rapidly expands after it leaves the capillary,
discontinuous phase at a very slow, constant injection rate,
yielding invalid measurement. At higher pressure, the
(lcc/hr) to avoid IFT changes due to aging time differences.
pressure required to overcome the gas-liquid interface is
The videotape frames containing an image of the hanging
rather negligible compared to the bubble pressure, thus the
drops were captured, saved as bitmaps and later
bubble forms a regular spherical-like shape similar to that of
downloaded into the measurement software.
a liquid drop in a liquid-liquid system. A high-pressure gas
The measurements were performed using the
bubble is shown in Fig. 13.
uncalibrated pixel option to speed up processing. Distance
A difficulty in using the drop volume method for
calibrations and IFT calculations were later performed using
liquid/gas IFT (i.e., surface tensin measurements) arises,
spreadsheet Computer application. Distances were
however, from the wettability of the capillary tip in the
calibrated using the outer diameter (OD) of the capillary.
presence of gas. In the presence of gas, liquid is strongly
The OD was measured within 0.00 lmm accuracy using a
attracted to the tip, which causes liquid to climb over the tip.
micrometer.
Drop volume IFT measurements were made by
Analysis of Interfacial Tensin Measurements
pumping the light phase into the dense phase at a slow
Interfacial Tensin (IFT) measurements were performed to
constant flow rate. Drops formed at the tip of the specially
calclate spreading coefficient for fluid systems used in
designed capillary, and the volume of the drop was
corefloods experiments24,25. Measurements used for
calculated from the injection rate and the number of drops
spreading coefficient calculations were performed using
formed within a specifc time period.
pendant drop method. An average of five independently
The drop volume IFT measurements were performed
calculated vales of IFT based on five independently
using the same setup as for the Pendant Drop measurements
processed drops were used to calclate IFT at each pressure
with the positive displacement pomp used for liquid
and temperature settings.
injection. A helical-shaped spiral of about 40 cc was used
Densities of liquids for different pressure and
instead of the 250 cc transfer vessel used in the Pendant
temperature settings were calculated using standard fluid
Drop study to minimize flow rate instabilities due to
correlations26. Gas densities were interpolated from
temperature fluctuations. Since the drop size was small, in
published tables27 assuming linear distribution between
the range of 3050 |iL, fluid volume changes were able to
known pressure and temperature points. IFT experimental
cause flow rate fluctuations when large volumes of liquid
setup was checked against published vales of IFT and
were" involved. Again, distilled, degassed water was used
surface tensin at ambient conditions. Surface tensions were
as driving fluid with the 50K ppm KC1 brine used as buffer
measured for pur water, heptane and dichloromethane in
between measured sample and driving fluid. Injection rates
presence of air at 26.4 C and compared with published
varied from 1 cc/hr to 4 cc/hr depending on the size of the
vales28. Interfacial Tensin was measured for heptane/water
drop. In order to seal the tip at elevated temperature, the
and dichloromethane/water systems and also compared with
manufacturis leaking Teflon fltting was replaced with a
published vales17. In all cases, experimental vales obtained
standard 1/16 Swagelok steel fitting screwed on the top of
with pendant drop setup were within 5% range from the
1/16-1/8 nipple. This arrangement provided metal to
published vales. A comparison of measured and published
metal seal between the nipple and the capillary. The nipple
vales is given in Fig.
was then mounted in the Ruska PVT cell using standard
14. The summary of IFT measurements performed for
1/8 connector.
experimental coreflood fluid systems is given in
Capillary tip design is critical to the precisin and
Table 1. The resulting spreading coefficient vales
simplicity of Drop Volume methods. The tip has to be very
are given in Fig. 15.
sharp so the drop is attached to a well-defined circle rather
In
addition
to spreading coefficient measurements,
than to the rim. The design of the tip is shown in Fig. 11. In
surface
tensin
measurements
of 50 K ppm NaCl brine in
our study the Krtiss 0.254 mm ID and 1.5596 mm OD tip
presence
of
methane
and
nitrogen
were also conducted.
was used.
Selected
pressure
settings
were
1500,
2000, 2500, 3000,
An IFT calculation method using image processing is
3500 psia and temperature settings of 52.5, 66.8, 78.8, 95.4,
proposed. The ability to measure IFT based on several drops

11

10

109 and 126.8 C. The reason for these measurements

B. LEPSKI,
was Z.
toBASSIOUNI,
Conclusions
J.M. WOLCOTT
establish some guidelines to estmate surface tensions of
Interfacial tensin measurements indicated positive
brine in presence of two gases commonly used for gas
spreading coefficients for all performed HPHT experiments.
injection gravity assisted processes. The practica!
From experimental measurements it was also found that
implications of the results are presented in Fig. 16 and 17.
injection of nitrogen yielded a more beneficial spreading
Drop Volume method was initially considered for IFT
coefficient because water/gas surface tensin was higher
measurements but was later abandoned in favor of Pendant
than that of methane. The difference in IFT was estimated to
Drop method mainly due to inabiiity of surface tensin
be in the order of 10-20% within the range of investigated
measurement using Drop Volume method. This is true under
conditions.
ambient conditions for which the Drop Volume method was
The simplified pendant drop method was found to be
designed. While investigating liquid/liquid interfaces, it was
sufficiently accurate for initial reservoir screening based on
observed that gas bubbles formed under high pressure
spreading coefficient valu. Initial results obtained with drop
behave as drops of liquid. This idea was pursued further and
volume method promise the development of altemative
surface tensin measurements for Nitrogen at 66C and
method of IFT measurements under reservoir conditions
96C were performed using drop volume method for the
also applicable for measurements of interfaces between nonsame pressure points as pendent drop measurements.
transparent liquids. In addition, strong correlation between
Unfortunately, using standard method of drop size
drop volume and pendant drop water-gas surface tensin
calculation based on injection rate and number of drops
was obtained for high-pressure gas systems. This may lead
formed during a time period was not possible because even
to development of a new method of surface tensin
minor temperature changes resulted in some injection rate
measurement for high-pressure systems.
instability. Since this was a conceptual study, a simplified
Acknowledgments
image processing was used instead, assuming spherical
The
financial support provided by Amoco and the U.S.
shape of the drop for IFT calculations. The comparison of
Department of Energy is thankfiilly acknowledged. Special
the Pendant Drop measurements and Drop Volume
thanks are extended to Ms. Sara Shayegi for her constant
simplified image processing results are shown in Fig. 18 and
help and assistance during the experimental work performed
19.
in the LSU Enhanced Oil Recovery laboratory.
Interfacial tensin measurements indicated that all fluid
systems used for experimental corefloods had positive
spreading coefficients. That indicated that oil mobilization
should have occurred through film flow after gas injection.
From the correlation measurements for water-nitrogen and
water-methane systems, it was concluded that higher water
surface tensions will be observed for nitrogen as compared
to methane. The difference ranges from about 10 % for low
pressures and temperaturas up to about 20 % for the highest
investigated pressures. Higher water-gas surface tensin
should benefit film formation provided IFT of other phases
remain the same. Clear trends were observed for
water/methane surface tensin in ranges of the pressures and
temperaturas studied. No such trends were observed for
water/nitrogen surface tensions.
Vales of surface measurements for water-nitrogen
system performed with Drop Volume method were found to
be about 30% smaller than vales obtained with Pendant
Drop method. One possible reason for this discrepancy is the
simplified image processing technique used for drop size
calculation assuming spherical shape. Another source of
error seems to come from compressibility effect and the
precisin of fluid density data. The effect of compressibility
seems to be more evident in Fig. 20 where Pendant Drop
vales of IFT were crossploted vs. Drop Volume vales.
Further investigation of Drop Method surface-tension
measurements was not attempted since it is beyond the
scope of this research.

References
1.

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Unit Under Gas Drive-Pressure Maintenance
Operation and Development of an Enhanced Oil
Recovery Project", paper SPE/DOE No. 17324
presented at the SPE/DOE Enhanced Oil Recovery
Symposium in Tulsa, Oklahoma, April 17-20,
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2.

Johnston, J. R.: "Weeks Island Gravity Stable C0 2

Pilot", paper SPE/DOE No. 17351 presented at the
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3.

4.

Fassihi, M. R., Gillham, T. H.: "The use of Air

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Irwin, D.D., Batycky, J.P.: The Successive

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39659

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8.

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OF OIL RESERVOIRS
1996 SPE Annual SCREENING
Technical Conference
and FOR GRAVITY
14. ASSISTED
Padday, GAS
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Table 1 Summary of IFT Measurements for

Water/Gas ST

Fresh
Water- 30 K ppm KCI Brine- 30 K ppm KCI
Dead
Oil- Dead Oil- Nitrogen Brine-Live OllNitrogen
Methane
55.32
50.21
54.17

0t/Water IFT

27.84

23.98

28.03

Oil/Gas ST

15.41

15.41

10.77

Measurement/
Fluid System

Fig. 3. Schematic of the SCWD Process.

Fig. 4.
Pendant
Drop IFT Measurement Method (after Ref. 15).

Fig. 1 Schematic of the DDP Candidate Reservoir.

Heavy Phase, pH
i

Vdrop

(PH"PL)9

Separation Forc

a7td

Adherence forc

Fig. 2. Schematic of the Double Displacement Process.

Fig. 5. Drop Volume Method Schematic.

Fig. 9. PVT Cell Capillary Housing.

Fig. 6. Through-Window PVT Cell Model 2329-800-00.

Positiva
OltpUc*mnt Pump
(GasSUnktt)

Positiva
DlsplK*mnt Pump
(Ugtrar Llquid)

Fig. 7. Schematic of the HPHT IFT Setup.

Drop Measurement Setup.

Fig. 10. Pendent

.0154 mm

11 4S42AM MAR

21

1997;

1.5596 mm

Fig. 8. Example of
SigmaScan Pendant

Drop Image
Processing.

Fig. 11. Drop Volume

Capillary Tip Design,
after Ref. 17.

Fig. 12. Drop Volume Heptane/Water Image

Nitrogen
Processing.

Fig. 13. Bitmap of High

80.0

Published Measured

* 29.5

I 19.5 19 5

20.1 -

0.0 -

IIII

Water SF HeptaneST Dichlorometh. ST Heptane-Water DichloromethIFT

Water IFT

Fig. 14. Comparison Between Measured and Published Vales of IFT.

Bubble in Water.

Pressure

Fig. 15. Spreading Coefficient Vales for Coreflood Fluid Systems.

Temparature dag C

Fig. 16. Comparison of Nitrogen and Methane IFT for 1500 psia.

70 -

l'
F
T
m

Temperature
deg C

Fig. 17. Comparison of Nitrogen and Methane IFT for 3500 psia.

4000

Fig. 18. Drop Volume and Pendant Drop IFT Measurements for 96 C (Mean Vales).

Fig. 19. Drop Volume and Pendant Drop IFT Measurements for 66 C (Mean Vales).

Fig. 20. Pendant Drop vs. Drop Volume IFT Vales Crossplot for 1500-3500 psia.