PEH:Immiscible Gas Injection in Oil Reservoirs

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Petroleum Engineering Handbook
Larry W. Lake, Editor-in-Chief
Volume V

Reservoir Engineering and Petrophysics

Edward D. Holstein, Editor

Copyright 2007, Society of Petroleum Engineers
Chapter 12

Immiscible Gas Injection in Oil Reservoirs

H.R. (Hal) Warner Jr., Warner Consulting Services and E.D. Holstein, Consultant
Pgs. 1103-1147
ISBN 978-1-55563-120-8
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This chapter concerns gas injection into oil reservoirs to increase oil recovery
by immiscible displacement. The use of gas, either of a designed composition or
at high-enough pressure, to result in the miscible displacement of oil is not d
iscussed here; for a discussion of that topic, see the chapter on miscible flood
ing in this section of the Handbook. A variety of gases can and have been used f
or immiscible gas displacement, with lean hydrocarbon gas used for most applicat
ions to date. Historically, immiscible gas injection was first used for reservoi
r pressure maintenance. The first such projects were initiated in the 1930s and
used lean hydrocarbon gas (e.g., Oklahoma City field and Cunningham pool in the
United States[1] and Bahrain field in Bahrain[2][3]). Over the decades, a consid
erable number of immiscible gas injection projects have been undertaken, some wi
th excellent results and others with poor performance. Reasons for this range of
performance are discussed in this chapter. At the end of this chapter, a variet
y of case studies are presented that briefly describe several of the successful
immiscible gas injection projects.
Gas injection projects are undertaken when and where there is a readily availabl
e supply of gas. This gas supply typically comes from produced solution gas or g
as-cap gas, gas produced from a deeper gas-filled reservoir, or gas from a relat
ively close gas field. Such projects take a variety of forms, including the foll
owing:
Reinjection of produced gas into existing gas caps overlying producing oil c
olumns.
Injection into oil reservoirs of separated produced gas for pressure mainten
ance, for gas storage, or as required by government regulations.
Gas injection to prevent migration of oil into a gas cap because of a natura
l waterdrive, downdip water injection, or both.
Gas injection to increase recoveries from reservoirs containing volatile, hi
gh-shrinkage oils and into gas-cap reservoirs containing retrograde gas condensa
te.
Gas injection into very undersaturated oil reservoirs for the purpose of swe
lling the oil and hence increasing oil recovery.
The primary physical mechanisms that occur as a result of gas injection are (1)

partial or complete maintenance of reservoir pressure, (2) displacement of oil b

y gas both horizontally and vertically, (3) vaporization of the liquid hydrocarb
on components from the oil column and possibly from the gas cap if retrograde co
ndensation has occurred or if the original gas cap contains a relict oil saturat
ion, and (4) swelling of the oil if the oil at original reservoir conditions was
very undersaturated with gas. Gas injection is particularly effective in high-r
elief reservoirs where the process is called "gravity drainage" because the vert
ical/gravity aspects increase the efficiency of the process and enhance recovery
of updip oil residing above the uppermost oil-zone perforations.
The decision to apply immiscible gas injection is based on a combination of tech
nical and economic factors. Deferral of gas sales is a significant economic dete
rrent for many potential gas injection projects if an outlet for immediate gas s
ales is available. Nevertheless, a variety of opportunities still exist. First a
re those reservoirs with characteristics and conditions particularly conducive t
o gas/oil gravity drainage and where attendant high oil recover