Laboratory investigation of low-tension-gas (LTG) flooding for tertiary oil recovery in tight formations

This paper establishes Low-Tension-Gas (LTG) as a method for sub-miscible tertiary recovery in tight sandstone and carbonate reservoirs. The LTG process involves the use of a low foam quality surfactant-gas solution to mobilize and then displace residual crude after waterflood. It replicates the existing Alkali-Surfactant-Polymer (ASP) process in its creation of an ultra-low oil-water interfacial tension (IFT) environment for oil mobilization, but instead supplements the use of foam over polymer for mobility control. By replacing polymer with foam, chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) methods can be expanded into sub-30 mD formations where polymer is impractical due to plugging, shear, or the requirement to use a low molecular weight polymer. Overall results indicate favorable mobilization and displacement of residual crude oil in both tight carbonate and tight sandstone reservoirs. Tertiary recovery of 75-95% ROIP was achieved for cores with 2-15 mD permeability, with similar oil bank and other ASP analogous process attributes observed. Moreover, similar recovery was achieved during testing at high initial oil saturation (56%), indicating high process tolerance to oil saturation and potential application for implementation at secondary recovery. In addition, a number of tools and relations were developed to improve the predictive relationship between observed coreflood properties and actual mobilization or displacement mechanisms which impact reservoir-scale flooding. These relations include qualitative dispersion comparison and calculation of in-situ gas saturation, macroscopic mobility ratio at the displacement fronts, and apparent viscosity of injected fluids. These tools were validated through use of reference gas and surfactant floods and indicate that stable macroscopic displacement can be achieved through LTG flooding in tight formations. Furthermore, to better reflect actual reservoir conditions where localized fractional flow of gas can vary substantially depending on mixing or gravity phenomenon, two additional sets of data were developed to empirically model behavior. Through testing of LTG co-injection at a number of discrete fractional flow values over a wide range, recovery was shown to achieve a relative maximum at 50% gas fractional flow which also corresponded with optimal observed mobility control as measured by the previously established tools. Likewise, through testing of surfactant-alternating-gas (SAG) injection cycling, displacement and overall recovery were shown to be improved versus reference co-injection flooding. Finally, by comparing the observed displacement and mobility data among co-injection and surfactant-alternating-gas floods, a new displacement mechanism is introduced to better relate actual displacement conditions with observed macroscopic mobility data. This mechanism emphasizes the role of liquid rate in actual displacement processes and a mostly static gas saturation (independent of gas rate) in altering liquid relative permeability and diverting injected liquid into lower permeability zones.