Fluid Characterization for Miscible EOR Projects and CO2 Sequestration

Abstract

Summary Accurate performance prediction of miscible enhanced-oil-recovery (EOR) projects or CO2 sequestration in depleted oil and gas reservoirs relies in part on the ability of an equation-of-state (EOS) model to adequately represent the properties of a wide range of mixtures of the resident fluid and the injected fluid(s). The mixtures that form when gas displaces oil in a porous medium will, in many cases, differ significantly from compositions created in swelling tests and other standard pressure/volume/temperature (PVT) experiments. Multicontact experiments (e.g., slimtube displacements) are often used to condition an EOS model before application in performance evaluation of miscible displacements. However, no clear understanding exists of the impact on the resultant accuracy of the selected characterization procedure when the fluid description is subsequently included in reservoir simulation. In this paper, we present a detailed analysis of the quality of two different characterization procedures over a broad range of reservoir fluids (13 samples) for which experimental swelling-test and slimtube-displacement data are available. We explore the impact of including swelling-test and slimtube experiments in the data reduction and demonstrate that for some gas/oil systems, swelling tests do not contribute to a more accurate prediction of multicontact miscibility. Finally, we report on the impact that use of EOS models based on different characterization procedures can have on recovery predictions from dynamic 1D displacement calculations.