Scale-up of miscible flood processes for heterogeneous reservoirs. Quarterly report, April 1--June 30, 1995

The current project is a systematic research effort aimed at quantifying relationships between process mechanisms that can lead to improved recovery from gas injection processes performed in heterogeneous Class 1 and Class 2 reservoirs. It will provide a rational basis for the design of displacement processes that take advantage of crossflow due to capillary, gravity and viscous forces to offset partially the adverse effects of heterogeneity. In effect, the high permeability zones are used to deliver fluid by crossflow to zones that would otherwise be flooded only very slowly. Thus, the research effort is divided into five areas: Development of miscibility in multicomponent systems; Design estimates for nearly miscible displacements; Design of miscible floods for fractured reservoirs; Compositional flow visualization experiments; Simulation of near-miscible flow in heterogeneous systems The status of the research effort in each area is reviewed briefly in the following section