On the Water-Oil Relative Permeabilities of Southern Algerian Sandstone Rock Samples

Abstract

The water–oil relative permeability behavior of different plugs from the Hassi Messaoud reservoir in south Algeria has been investigated to understand the fundamental processes of two-phase flow taking place within the macro-structure of rock samples. The experiments were conducted on cylindrical reservoir samples (plugs) using the unsteady-state method to measure the oil–water relative permeabilities due to operational simplicity. The impact of factors such as wettability, overburden pressure and rock characteristics based on the relative permeability curves have been carefully assessed. During this test, temperature was kept in the range of 95 to 100 °C and pressure was maintained at 100 bar. Large variations in relative permeability curve trends have been experimentally observed for different rock samples under investigation, which can be explained by the heterogeneous nature of the studied reservoir. Results showed an intermediate alteration of wettability and for all studied samples, and the intersection point of the relative permeability values for oil and water is less than 50%, showing that these samples exhibit oil-wet behavior. Our results also show that displacement pressure increases from 0.13 to 2 psi, promoting a gradual displacement of oil relative permeability (Kro) toward higher saturations in water (45% to 60%). The results show that the oil recovery rate at breakthrough is approximately 16% to 28% of the initial oil in place (IOP), with an average of 23%. The final oil recovery rate, obtained by moving at constant pressure, ranges from 43% to 55% of the initial oil in place (IOP), with an average value of around 49%. The forced displacement at the end of the performed tests increased the average recovery rate by about 4%. These rates vary from 46% to 61% of the initial oil in place (IOP). The residual oil saturation (Sor) varies from 33.7% to 47.8% relative to pore volume (Vp); the average is about 42%. The residual oil saturation (Sor) is about 30% to 45% Vp after forced displacement at the end of the test, the average is about 38.5%, and the relative permeabilities Krw and Kro are equal to the water saturations of 33% to 50%; the average value is about 41%.