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E O R / I O R

COREFLOOD STUDY OF SURFACTANTALTERNATING-GAS FOAM PROCESSES


Foam has the potential to relieve several
common problems by better areal sweep,
better vertical sweep, less viscous fingering,
and lower handling costs when compared
with gas-injection improved oil recovery
(IOR). Foam may be introduced by continuous coinjection of gas and surfactant solution or by injection of a slug of surfactant
solution followed by injection of a gas slug,
known as a surfactant-alternating-gas
(SAG) process. SAG injection has certain
advantages over continuous foam injection
in foam IOR processes. SAG injection minimizes contact between gas and water in the
injection facilities, reducing corrosion, and
can achieve high injectivity and low mobility at the displacement front. High injectivity results as foam near the well dries out,
weakens, and collapses, while stronger,
wetter foam farther from the well maintains
mobility control. Recent simulation results
show that SAG processes can overcome
gravity override with less increase in injection-well pressure than is possible with
continuous foam injection.
SCALEUP OF LABORATORY RESULTS

There are a number of published coreflood


studies where gas is injected into core samples presaturated with surfactant solution.
Some show foam persistence for many pore
volumes (PVs) of gas injection. However,
extrapolating these results directly to field
scale is dangerous. Because of dispersive
effects, the mobility within the shock front
may exert influence in the length scale of a
coreflood that does not occur in the field.
Processes such as foam generation may
occur slowly on the time scale of a coreflood but be virtually instantaneous on the
time scale of a field project. Unsteady-state
displacements in a coreflood may not be

This article is a synopsis of paper SPE


38318,Coreflood Study of SurfactantAlternating-Gas Foam Processes:
Implications for Field Design, by K.R.
Kibodeaux, SPE (now with Texaco E&P
Technology), and W.R. Rossen, SPE, U.
of Texas, originally presented at the
1997 SPE Western Regional Meeting,
Long Beach, California, 2527 June.
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directly proportional to field scale, and


foam behavior in a reservoir may not be
directly proportional to unsteady-state displacements in a coreflood. Capillary end
effects in a coreflood study may prevent
water transport out of the core, prolonging
foam life beyond that observed in a larger
system without this effect. A more reliable
procedure is to derive the fractional-flow
curve from the coreflood and then scale to
reservoir size with fractional-flow methods.
APPARATUS AND MATERIALS

An unfired Berea core with a permeability of


720 md and porosity of 0.22 was used in the
experiments. It was cut into a 9.5-in.-long
right-circular cylinder. An N2 gas phase
with a 1.0-wt% NaCl/0.01-wt% CaCl2/1.0wt% surfactant aqueous phase was used.
The coreholder, positioned downstream of
the foam generator, held the core in a vertical position. The coreholder was designed
to be lightweight so that the weight of the
core could be measured effectively during
the flood to determine water saturation, Sw.
Flow lines were flexible, transparent nylon,
and baffles were installed to restrict air flow
around the apparatus and minimize external forces on the coreholder. Ports divided
the length of the core into three sections of
2.6, 2.75, and 4.15 in., respectively, from
inlet to outlet. The weight of the system,
with Sw in the core equal to one and zero,
was measured before the tests, allowing
determination of Sw during the test.
One goal of these tests was to measure capillary pressure, Pc. A probe was designed that
used a differential-pressure transducer to
measure the pressure in the gas phase on one
side and pressure in the water phase on the
other side of the transducer. A backpressure
regulator maintained a steady backpressure of
147 psi on the entire system during the twophase flow. Differential-pressure transducers
measured pressure drop, p, across each of
the three sections of the core. All transducers
had a range of 0 to 80 psi, and were calibrated before the test. Data were recorded by a
computerized data-acquisition system.

then hundreds of PVs of brine were injected


as backpressure was changed between 0 and
100 psi to eliminate gas from the core.
Backpressure was set at 147 psi at the end of
the extended brine injection and held constant. Dozens of PVs of surfactant solution
were then injected. Gas was then introduced
with the surfactant solution at a water volumetric fraction, fw, of 0.2. fw was incrementally reduced as pressure responses stabilized. When a minimum value of fw=0.002
was reached, water injection ceased and an
extended period of gas injection began.
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

Gas/Water Coinjection. The value of Sw was


derived from measured weight. Two methods
of estimating the amount of water in the dead
volume were used. The first assumes that the
imposed fw equals the water volume fraction
in the endcap. The second is based on endcap
weight that changes in a short time compared
with changes that occur across the core. Both
methods give qualitatively similar results.
Water relative permeability, krw, values were
computed from measured p with a form of
Darcys law and with the assumption of a
water viscosity of 1.0 cp. The measured p in
Section 2 was used in all calculations to avoid
end effects. Pc and p were measured, and Pc
of the Berea computed from Sw values, by use
of capillary pressure curves for unfired Berea
during primary drainage, at values of N2/
aqueous interfacial tension (33 dynes/cm),
measured at room temperature. The Berea Pc
was computed to compare measured Pc with
and without foam under the same conditions.
Foam strength is characterized by its
resistance factor (RF), the ratio of mobility
without foam to that with foam at the same
Sw. An RF value of 1 indicates no foam,
while an RF value of 100 means that the
presence of foam has reduced gas mobility
100 times more than gas mobility without
foam at the same Sw. Computation of RF
requires knowledge of gas relative permeability, krg, without foam. Because krg is
high, and changed very little with the low
values of Sw used in these tests, the value of
krg was assumed to be 1.0.

EXPERIMENTAL STRATEGY

Tests were performed at room temperature.


The core was vacuum saturated with brine,

Results. When gas and water are injected


together, the foam is strong (RF2,000)
JANUARY 1998

E O R / I O R

before fw=0.008, then there is catastrophic


weakening of the foam between fw=0.02
and fw=0.008, followed by a gradual weakening as fw decreases. Foam strength is still
appreciable (RF=25) after breakage, and
foam collapse is not complete. When the
foam breaks, fluid is absorbed and swelling
results (imbibition), accompanied by a
decrease in Pc. As Sw increases, krw also
increases as Pc drops. Measured values of Pc
were high, compared with those expected
without foam.
DISCUSSION

In these tests, Pc was measured during foam


flow in consolidated porous media for the
first time. Foam is strong as Pc increases to
some limiting value. There is a critical Pc
above which foam lamellae rupture, and a
limiting Pc value is expected to exist in
porous media at which a strong foam weakens drastically. In these tests, the value of the
critical Pc was approximately 12 psi. Other
investigators have reported a foam film surviving at Pc>17 psi. The Pc measurements,
although unexpectedly high, were valid
indications of the actual values in the core.

JANUARY 1998

One goal of this work was to apply fractional-flow methods and a coreflood-derived
fw curve to scale up laboratory coreflood
results. A time/distance diagram for an SAG
process was generated from the fractionalflow curve. Mobility is high at the initial conditions behind the shock front. At the shock
front, mobility is low, with spreading waves of
gently increasing mobility behind it. A foam
of very low mobility exists in a thin, moving
front composing the shock. Within this zone,
foam forms, strengthens, exceeds critical Pc,
and weakens. Fractional-flow theory states
that all the points between initial conditions
and the shock on the fractional-flow curve,
including the strong foam near fw=0.02, lie
inside the the shock. This extremely strong
foam within the narrow shock front improves
the mobility ratio of the displacement with no
adverse effect on injectivity.
CONCLUSIONS

1. Pc was measured during foam flow in


consolidated porous media for the first
time. Unexpectedly high Pc were measured
in the presence of strong foam.
2. Sw declined and Pc increased as injection fw was reduced in steps to a point

where foam abruptly weakened. This point


is defined as the limiting Pc. The shape of
the fractional-flow curve was similar to
those proposed previously.
3. When the foam weakened, imbibition
occurred, with a increase in Sw and a
decrease in Pc. This imbibition event, as
well as multiple steady states of foam and a
multivalued fractional-flow function, may
complicate the use of fractional-flow methods for foam-performance prediction.
4. Coreflood results cannot be scaled directly to field performance because both evaporation and capillary end effects alter water transport late in the flood. Using laboratory corefloods to derive fw as a function of Sw, then
scaling up with fractional-flow methods or
computer simulation, provides more reliable
scaleup from the laboratory to the field.
5. Results suggest moderate mobility
reduction in a broad region behind the
shock front, while weakened foam near the
well allows good injectivity.
Please read the full-length paper for additional detail, illustrations, and references.
The paper from which the synopsis has
been taken has not been peer reviewed.

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