Experiment Observations of Miscible Displacement of Heavy Oil With Hydrocarbon Solvents

The increased interest in secondary production (or post-cold production) of heavy oil and the rise of oil prices have renewed interest in solvent-based methods for heavy-oil recovery. Although the vapor-extraction (vapex) process is favored, other methods are worth investigating. Also, the relative merit of mass-transfer and viscous mechanisms in the overall recovery efficiency remains a topic of debate. This study of mass-transfer phenomena in heavy-oil/ and bitumen/solvent systems was performed in an effort to determine dispersion coefficients.

View a Synopsis of SPE 97854.

This article, written by Technology Editor Dennis Denney, contains highlights of paper SPE 97854, "Experimental Observations of Miscible Displacement of Heavy Oils With Hydrocarbon Solvents," by D. Salama and A. Kantzas, U. of Calgary, prepared for the 2005 SPE International Thermal Operations and Heavy Oil Symposium, Calgary, 1-3 November. The paper has not been peer reviewed.