Experimental study on reducing CO2–oil minimum miscibility pressure with hydrocarbon agents

Abstract

CO2 flooding is an important method for improving oil recovery for reservoirs with low permeability. Even though CO2 could be miscible with oil in regions nearby injection wells, the miscibility could be lost in deep reservoirs because of low pressure and the dispersion effect. Reducing the CO2–oil miscibility pressure can enlarge the miscible zone, particularly when the reservoir pressure is less than the needed minimum miscible pressure (MMP). Furthermore, adding intermediate hydrocarbons in the CO2–oil system can also lower the interfacial tension (IFT). In this study, we used dead crude oil from the H Block in the X oilfield to study the IFT and the MMP changes with different hydrocarbon agents. The hydrocarbon agents, including alkanes, alcohols, oil-soluble surfactants, and petroleum ethers, were mixed with the crude oil samples from the H Block, and their performances on reducing CO2–oil IFT and CO2–oil MMP were determined. Experimental results show that the CO2–oil MMP could be reduced by 6.19 MPa or 12.17% with petroleum ether in the boiling range of 30–60 ◦C. The effects of mass concentration of hydrocarbon agents on CO2–oil IFT and crude oil viscosity indicate that the petroleum ether in the boiling range of 30–60 ◦C with a mass concentration of 0.5% would be the best hydrocarbon agent for implementing CO2 miscible flooding in the H Block.