NEW MINIMUM MISCIBILITY PRESSURE (MMP) CORRELATION FOR HYDROCARBON MISCIBLE INJECTIONS

This paper presents a new empirically derived correlation for estimating the minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) required for multicontact miscible (MCM) displacement of reservoir petroleum by hydrocarbon gas flooding. Only few empirical correlations exist for determining the MMP. These correlations are often used to estimate the MMP without considering the composition of the injected gas. On the other hand these correlations are based on a limited set of experimental data which are not quite applicable. In addition, in such correlations the complex condensing/vaporizing displacement process is not regarded. In this study, however, the derived correlation investigates the influence of the vaporizing/condensing drive mechanism and oil and gas composition on gas miscibility pressure. MMP has been correlated with temperature, oil composition and injection gas composition. Their effect on hydrocarbon gas MMP has been documented. MCM process was also modeled by compositional slim tube simulators. The modified Peng-Robison equation of state (PR3) was used to evaluate miscibility conditions. The new correlation is based on regression of widely experimentally measured MMP data in literature and data generated from validated compositional slim tube simulators. By comparing the calculated MMPs from the improved correlation data with currently used correlations and experimentally measured data, it was found that the novel correlation is significantly more accurate than other correlations. KEYWORD