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Effect of Temperature on the Gas/Oil
Relative Permeability of Orinoco Belt
Foamy Oil
Songyan Li and Zhaomin Li, China University of Petroleum
Summary
Foamy-oil flow has been successfully demonstrated in laboratory
experiments and site applications. On the basis of solution-gas-
drive experiments with Orinoco belt heavy oil, the effects of tem-
perature on foamy-oil recovery and gas/oil relative permeability
were investigated. Oil-recovery efficiency increases and then
decreases with temperature and attains a maximum value of
20.23% at 100 C. The Johnson-Bossler-Naumann (JBN) method
has been proposed to interpret relative permeability characteristics
from solution-gas-drive experiments with Orinoco belt heavy oil,
neglecting the effect of capillary pressure. The gas relative perme-
ability is lower than the oil relative permeability by two to four
orders of magnitude. No intersection was identified on the oil and
gas relative permeability curves. Because of an increase in tem-
perature, the oil relative permeability changes slightly, and the
gas relative permeability increases. Thermal recovery at an inter-
mediate temperature is suitable for foamy oil, whereas a signifi-
cantly higher temperature can reduce foamy behavior, which
appears to counteract the positive effect of viscosity reduction.
The main reason for the flow characteristics of foamy oil in po-
rous media is the low gas mobility caused by the oil components
and the high viscosity. High resin and asphaltene concentrations
and the high viscosity of Orinoco belt heavy oil increase the sta-
bility of bubble films and prevent gas breakthrough in the oil
phase, which forms a continuous gas, compared with the solution-
gas drive of light oil. The increase in the gas relative permeability
with temperature is caused by higher interfacial tensions and the
bubble-coalescence rate at high temperatures. The experimental
results can provide theoretical support for foamy-oil production.
Introduction
Foamy Oil For Heavy Oil. Solution-gas drive in heavy-oil reser-
voirs, which is frequently referred to as cold production, has been
practiced in Canada, Venezuela, China, and Oman (Lievaart et al.
1995; Hu et al. 1998; Dusseault and El-Sayed 1999; Andarcia
et al. 2001). A maximum recovery of 20% is estimated for some
of the heavy-oil reservoirs by cold production, which is consid-
ered to be unusual for very-heavy oils. High recovery is fre-
quently associated with a low pressure-drop rate in the reservoir
and a low gas/oil ratio in the produced fluid below the
bubblepoint.
The foamy oil maintains the released solution gas that is dis-
persed in the heavy oil, which differs from conventional light oil
(Smith 1986; Maini and Sarma 1993; Claridge and Prats 1994;
Sheng et al. 1995; Maini 1996; Bill et al. 1997). Several research-
ers have presented the results of pressure-depletion experiments
(Maini 1999a; Yrigoyen and Carvajal 2001; Chen and Maini
2005). These results indicate that the beneficial effects of foamy
oil diminish as the rate of pressure change decreases. Because the
majority of previous studies on foamy-oil flow focused on cold
production, the temperature factor is not considered.
Copyright V
C 2016 Society of Petroleum Engineers
Original SPE manuscript received for review 15 August 2014. Revised manuscript received
for review 26 December 2014. Paper (SPE 174089) peer approved 22 January 2015.
170
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Effect of Temperature on Foamy Oil. Laboratory experiments
have demonstrated that the half-life of foamy oil decreased signif-
icantly with an increase in temperature (Zhang 1999). Sheng
(1996) discovered that foam stability decreases with the viscosity
reduction of heavy oil. The results suggest that the benefits of
foamy-oil flow diminish rapidly with increasing temperature. As
suggested by Maini and Sarma (1994), foamy oil is likely to be
less stable at elevated temperatures. Therefore, the gas phase can
achieve continuous free-gas flow for substantially lower gas satu-
ration. Consequently, the benefits of foamy oil may not be avail-
able at steam temperatures.
Wong et al. (1997a, 1997b) reported an experimental study of
the effect of temperature on foamy-oil recovery. They conducted
depletion experiments at 50, 80, and 180 C by use of Cold Lake
bitumen and cores from the Cold Lake reservoir. Their results did
not reveal a distinct effect of temperature on the recovery factor
for solution-gas drive.
Laboratory studies of solution-gas drive have shown that the
recovery factors obtained in conditions that promote foamy-oil
flow increase moderately as the oil viscosity decreases (Maini
1999a). Foamy-oil flow becomes more difficult to generate as the
oil viscosity decreases, and high depletion rates are required to
obtain large recovery factors in low-viscosity systems. The
change in oil viscosity with temperature suggests that an optimum
temperature may exist for achieving the best solution-gas-drive-
recovery factor.
Zhang et al. (2001) examined the effects of temperature on
foamy-oil flow in clean sand with Cold Lake oil and methane gas.
Solution-gas-drive experiments were performed in a sandpack at
several different temperatures and depletion rates. The highest re-
covery factor does not occur at the highest temperature. Instead,
maximum recovery is achieved at a significantly lower optimum
temperature, which is attributed to the diminished gas solubility
and reduced foamy behavior at higher temperatures, counteracting
the positive influence of reduced viscosity.
Relative Permeability of Foamy Oil. Gas and oil relative per-
meabilities are the main parameters for the study of solution-gas
drive in heavy-oil reservoirs. Tang and Firoozabadi (1999) tested
the gas and oil permeabilities for cold production from heavy-oil
reservoirs. The gas relative permeability is minimal for a maxi-
mum gas saturation of 10% (approximately 106 to 105), and it
slowly increases with the evolved-gas saturation.
Ostos and Maini (2004) discovered that with an increasing
capillary number, the oil relative permeability increases and gas
relative permeability decreases. For a high capillary number, the
relative permeability ratio remains low for high gas-saturation
values. The results from this study suggest that the conventional
correlations of gas/oil relative permeability should incorporate the
effect of capillary number to improve the prediction of the foamy-
oil-flow mechanism.
Purpose of This Study. The heavy oil from the Orinoco belt in
Venezuela exhibits a high gas/oil ratio and a high asphaltene con-
centration. Complex characteristics of foamy-oil flow appear with
the reduction in reservoir pressure for cold production. The well-
head sampling shows the foam state with continuous oil phase
and dispersed gas phase. The production of foamy oil has
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Oil/gas Gas-mass-flow
Pressure transducer BPR separator controller

Sandpack
Live Oil

Gas-mass-flow
Oven controller
Gas
cylinder

Pump

Fig. 1—Experiment apparatus.

achieved satisfactory development (Andarcia et al. 2000; Qin and
Chen 2007; Qin et al. 2007; Wang et al. 2008; Yang et al. 2008;
Mu et al. 2009; Mu 2010; Liu et al. 2011). The relation of oil and
gas relative permeabilities with gas saturation is important for
understanding foamy-oil flow in porous media and reservoir simu-
lation. However, few studies of relative permeability of foamy oil
are available, and we do not have sufficient information about the
effect of temperature on the oil recovery with foamy oil.
In this study, live oil is produced from crude oil from the
MPE3 block in the Orinoco belt, which simulates real reservoir
conditions and produces study results that are similar to the actual
development situation. Through physical-simulation experiments
for solution-gas drive, the effect of increasing temperature on
foamy-oil recovery and relative permeability was investigated.
The objective of this study was to investigate the role of foamy-
oil flow in thermal-recovery conditions. The experimental results
can provide theoretical support for foamy-oil production.
Experimental Methods
Apparatus. The apparatus shown in Fig. 1 was used in the
experiments. The sandpack model in Fig. 1 has an inner diameter
of 2.54 cm and a length of 60 cm. A heating muff is outside of the
sandpack to enable the sandpack to be accurately heated to a spe-
cific high temperature. The sandpack and the live-oil cylinder
within the dotted enclosure in Fig. 1 were contained in a thermo-
static convection oven, which can be regulated to a given temper-
ature with accuracy of less than 1 C. The live-oil cylinder was
vertically placed inside the oven. A constant-pressure/constant-
speed pump (Model 100DX of Teledyne Technologies, with flow
accuracy <0.25 lL/min and pressure accuracy < 60.5%) deliv-
ered live oil to the apparatus at a preset, constant-volumetric-flow
rate. The pressure differences of the sandpacks were measured by
use of differential-pressure transducers (Model 3210PD of Haian
Group, China, with full scale of 50 MPa and accuracy <0.1% full
scale). A backpressure regulator (BPR) with an open error of
<0.001 MPa was used to control the backpressure of the sand-
pack. The pressure of the BPR was maintained by a nitrogen-gas
cylinder, which was connected to a gas-mass-flow controller
(Model SLA5850S of Brooks, with accuracy < 61% full scale).
oil/gas separator and measured by a balance (Model PL2002 of
Mettler Toledo, Switzerland, with full scale of 2100 g and accu-
racy of 0.01 g) and gas-mass-flow controller (Model SLA5850S
of Brooks), respectively.
Oil and Gas. The dead oil used in the experiment was obtained
from the Orinoco belt in Venezuela, and the solution gas was
mixed in the laboratory. The solution gas consists of methane and
carbon dioxide with mole fractions of 87.0 and 13.0%, respec-
tively. The solution-gas/oil ratio is 16.0 m3/m3. The initial bubble-
point pressure of the live oil is 5.4 MPa at the reservoir
temperature of 54 C. Live-oil parameters are shown in Table 1.
The viscosity/temperature curve for the dead oil is shown in
Fig. 2. The test results reveal that the viscosity for the dead oil at
the reservoir temperature was 28 040 mPas. The dead oil was
classified as extraheavy oil in accordance with the heavy-oil clas-
sification. With an increase in temperature, the oil viscosity
decreases rapidly from 40 to 70 C.
Sandpack. Sandpacks with permeabilities from 9,212 to 9,588
md and porosities from 36.18 to 38.56% were used in the experi-
ments, because the physical properties are similar within these
ranges. The key properties of the sandpacks are listed in Table 2.
Brine. Analytic pure calcium chloride and sodium chloride at
concentrations of 500 and 21 000 mg/L were used in the experi-
ments to simulate the formation water. Distilled water served as
the liquid. The density and viscosity of the brine at 25 C are 1021
kg/m3 and 1.12 mPas, respectively.
Experimental Procedures. Solution-gas-drive experiments for
foamy oil at different temperatures were performed in the
140000
120000
100000
Viscosity (mPa.s)

The produced oil and gas from the sandpack were separated by an 80000

60000

40000

20000

0
40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Temperature (°C)

Table 1—Parameters for live oil. Fig. 2—Viscosity/temperature curve for dead oil.

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 J174089 DOI: 10.2118/174089-PA Date: 3-February-16
Table 2—Experimental parameters and results for different temperatures.
laboratory, and the experimental apparatus is shown in Fig. 1. The
experimental procedures are as follows:
• Step 1: According to the initial bubblepoint pressure, the
reservoir temperature, and solution-gas/oil ratio, live oil was
prepared in a pressure/volume/temperature barrel. Then, the
live oil was delivered into the live-oil cylinder in the oven.
• Step 2: Each sandpack model was packed with silica sand
with the same particle-diameter distribution to ensure sand-
packs with similar permeabilities and porosities. The sand-
pack was evacuated for more than 4 hours before it was
saturated with brine, and the pore volumes and permeabil-
ities were tested.
• Step 3: Then, the sandpack was displaced with live oil at a
rate of 0.25 cm3/min until water production ceased. The
backpressure of the sandpack was 8.0 MPa, which was
higher than the bubblepoint pressure. The initial oil satura-
tion and irreducible water saturation were calculated.
• Step 4: The live-oil-flow rate and pressure difference were
tested. The oil permeability for irreducible water saturation
was calculated, which is the base value for the gas and oil
relative permeabilities.
• Step 5: According to the pressure-depletion rate, the back-
pressure of the sandpack was gradually reduced, and the oil
and gas productions, backpressure, and pressure difference
of the sandpack were recorded at different times.
• Step 6: The depletion experiment was stopped until the oil
and gas productions ceased, and the oil and gas relative per-
meabilities were calculated by the mathematical model
described in this study.
Mathematical Model
Foamy-oil flow in porous media comprises a nonsteady-state and
1D gasflooding, and the relative permeability test method for foamy
oil is modeled after the frontal-advance theory by Buckley-Leverett
(Bentsen 1978). The effects of capillary pressure and gravity are
neglected in the test, and the oil and gas saturation of any cross sec-
tion in the sandpack is assumed to be uniform. During the experi-
ment, the sandpack was saturated with live oil and the backpressure
of the sandpack was gradually reduced. Gas was released from the
live oil, which was used for flooding heavy oil. In the solution-gas-
drive process, oil- and gas-saturation distributions in the sandpack
are functions of distance and time. The gas/oil relative permeability
for foamy oil is calculated by use of the Johnson-Bossler-Naumann
(JBN) method (Sigmund and McCaffery 1979; Tao and Watson
1984a, 1984b), which is expressed as Eqs. 1 through 5:
d½Vp =VðtÞ
Kro ðSg Þ ¼ fo ðSg Þ     ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð1Þ
VðtÞ
d 1= I 
Vp
lg 1  fo ðSg Þ
Krg ðSg Þ ¼ Kro ðSg Þ   ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð2Þ
lo fo ðSg Þ
d½Vo ðtÞ=Vp 
fo ðSg Þ ¼ ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð3Þ
d½VðtÞ=Vp 
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Stage: Page: 172 Total Pages: 10
QðtÞ Dp0
I¼  ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð4Þ
Qo DpðtÞ
Sge ¼ Vo ðtÞ  VðtÞ  fo ðSg Þ: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð5Þ
When the gas flows through the sandpack, the pressure decreases
from the inlet pressure p1 to the outlet pressure p2, and the gas-
volume-flow rate also changes. Therefore, the average volume
flow of gas must be used in the relative permeability calculation.
According to Eq. 6, the cumulative fluid production V(t) at back-
pressure should be corrected to the average pressure in the
sandpack:
2pa
VðtÞ ¼ Vðt  1Þ þ DVo þ  DVg : . . . . . . . . . . ð6Þ
Dp þ 2pa
Experimental Results
Dissolved-Gas/Oil Ratio For Different Temperatures. The
relationships of dissolved-gas/oil ratio and live-oil viscosity
with pressure are tested and shown in Figs. 3 and 4, respec-
tively. In the experiments, the greatest dissolved-gas/oil ratio is
16 m3/m3, which is equivalent to the original gas/oil ratio in the
Orinoco belt formation. Fig. 3 demonstrates that the dissolved-
gas/oil ratio gradually decreases with pressure depletion because
gas is released from crude oil at low pressure. With an increase
in temperature, the dissolved-gas/oil ratio in the heavy oil gradu-
ally decreases because the gas solubility in oil decreases at high
temperatures.
Fig. 4 illustrates that live-oil viscosity decreases and then
increases with pressure depletion. When the pressure is lower
than the bubblepoint pressure (5.4 MPa at 54 C), the live-oil vis-
cosity decreases with an increase in pressure because the pressure
increase causes gas to dissolve in crude oil. When the pressure
exceeds the bubblepoint pressure, the live-oil viscosity increases
with pressure. At pressures higher than the bubblepoint pressure,
no additional gas is dissolved in heavy oil. However, live oil is
compressed at high pressure, the molecular space becomes
smaller, the internal friction of the liquid layer increases, and the
live-oil viscosity increases (Bora et al. 1997). With an increase in
temperature, the viscosity of live oil rapidly decreases, which
indicates that the Orinoco belt heavy oil is sensitive to tempera-
ture and that heat is the best method of viscosity reduction.
Oil Recovery For Different Temperatures. The effect of tem-
perature on foamy-oil recovery was investigated by means of solu-
tion-gas-drive experiments. Six series of sandpack-displacement
experiments were performed. The experimental temperature was
derived from the initial reservoir temperature 54–150 C. The exper-
imental parameters and oil-recovery efficiency are listed in Table 2.
Fig. 5 shows the oil-recovery efficiency of solution-gas drive
for different temperatures. It reveals that the oil-recovery effi-
ciency increases and then decreases with temperature, and oil-
recovery efficiency attains a maximum value of 20.23% at 100 C.
The maximum oil recovery does not occur at the maximum tem-
perature. Instead, an intermediate optimum temperature provides
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20 100000
54ഒ 54°C
18 75ഒ 75°C
100ഒ 100°C
16

Live-Oil Viscosity (mPa·s)

150°C
Dissolved-Gas/Oil Ratio 150ഒ
14 10000

12
10
1000
8
6
4
100
2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Pressure (MPa) Pressure (MPa)

Fig. 3—Relation of dissolved-gas/oil ratio with pressure. Fig. 4—Relation of live-oil viscosity with pressure.

the highest oil recovery. The results are consistent with the obser-
vations by Zhang et al. (2001).
According to these laboratory results, the flow resistance is
very high because of high viscosity at low temperatures. At low
temperatures, the foamy oil can only produce a limited volume of
oil from the sandpack. At temperatures between 85 and 120 C,
the oil viscosity is suitable for the flow, and the oil is capable of
maintaining the benefits of foamy oil for a relatively long time.
However, as the temperature increases to 150 C, the oil viscosity
reduces significantly and the production mechanism appears to be
the conventional-solution-gas drive. Despite the lower flow resist-
ance in the sandpack, a high oil-recovery efficiency is not
obtained.
The increasing temperature for solution-gas drive of heavy oil
has both favorable and unfavorable effects on oil recovery. With
the increase in temperature, oil viscosity decreases significantly
(Fig. 4), which reduces the flow resistance of crude oil in porous
media and improves the rate of oil flow into the production well.
However, the increased temperature may diminish the foamy-oil
effects because bubbles in foamy oil at high temperatures are
unstable. The laboratory experiments from Zhang (1999) and
Sheng (1996) have shown that the half-life of foam decreased sig-
nificantly with increasing temperature. Their results suggest that
the benefits of foamy-oil flow may diminish significantly with
high temperatures. Gas diffusion through bubble films, which is
referred to as Ostwald ripening or coarsening (Voorhees 1984),
increases at high temperatures and causes instability of gas bub-
bles. It can also cause partial gas/oil-phase segregation and gas
viscosity fingering. As suggested by Maini and Sarma (1994), the
foamy oil is likely to be less stable at elevated temperatures.
Therefore, the gas phase may achieve continuous free-gas flow at
substantially lower gas saturation. Thus, the oil-recovery effi-
ciency attains the greatest value at an intermediate temperature of
100 C in the experiment.
Pressure differences with depletion time at different tempera-
tures are shown in Fig. 6. In the process of pressure depletion,
pressure differences for foamy-oil flow in the sandpack increase
and then decrease. The pressure-difference increase indicates the
high flow resistance for bubbles in foamy oil, and the pressure-
difference decrease illustrates the change from dispersed gas to
continuous gas and the change from foamy oil to conventional-so-
lution-gas drive. The pressure differences rapidly decrease with
the temperature because the heavy-oil viscosity is sensitive to
temperature. With an increase in temperature, crude-oil viscosity
decreases significantly and reduces the flow resistance in the
sandpack.
The relations of oil- and gas-production rates with sandpack
pressure are shown in Figs. 7 and 8, respectively. The production
performance of foamy oil can be divided into three stages.
In the first stage, the pressure ranges from the initial pressure
(8.0 MPa) to the bubblepoint pressure. All gas is dissolved in oil
in the single-phase flow of live oil. The oil production is attributed
to live-oil-volume expansion caused by the pressure decrease.
The pressure depletion rate is 10 kPa/min. The oil-recovery effi-
ciency for this stage ranges only from 1 to 2%. The produced-gas/
oil ratio is equivalent to the initial dissolved-gas/oil ratio.
In the second stage, the pressure ranges from the bubblepoint
pressure to the pseudobubblepoint pressure. The pseudobubble-

5
25.0
54°C
4 75°C
Pressure Difference (MPa)

22.5 85°C
Oil-Recovery Efficiency (%)

100°C
20.0 120°C
3
150°C

17.5
2

15.0
1
12.5
0
10.0
40 60 80 100 120 140 160 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
Temperature (°C) Time (minutes)

Fig. 5—Oil-recovery efficiency of foamy oil for different Fig. 6—Pressure differences of foamy oil in sandpacks for dif-
temperatures. ferent temperatures.

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0.7 10

0.6 54°C 54°C

Oil-Production Rate (cm3/min)

Gas-Production Rate (cm3/min)

75°C 8 75°C
0.5 85°C 85°C
100°C 100°C
120°C 120°C
0.4 150°C 6 150°C

0.3
4
0.2

0.1 2

0.0
8 7 6 5 4 3
Pressure (MPa)
Fig. 7—Relation of oil-production rate with pressure in the
sandpack.
point pressure is the pressure at which the continuous phase of
gas begins (Kraus et al. 1993). In this stage, the pressure is
lower than the bubblepoint pressure, and gas is gradually
released from crude oil. The dispersed gas flows with crude oil
to form foamy oil. The oil-production curve shows that the oil-
production rates rapidly increase because of the effect of the
foamy oil. The produced-gas/oil ratio remains low in this stage
because the gas is in a dispersed state and the oil film between
bubbles reduces the gas-phase mobility and prevents gas vis-
cosity fingering. The results are consistent with the observa-
tions of Maini (1999b). This oil production is primarily driven
by the oil-phase expansion and trapped- or dispersed-gas
expansion. The maximum oil-production rate increases and
then decreases with temperature.
In the third stage, the pressure is lower than the pseudobub-
blepoint pressure. The dispersed bubbles gradually form a contin-
uous phase and form a conventional two-phase flow of oil and
gas, which differs from foamy oil. Gas flows as a free phase
(Maini 1999b). Because the mobility of continuous gas is much
higher than the mobility of oil, the oil-production rates reduces
substantially and high gas-production rates develop. Gas channel-
ing is formed in the sandpack, and the produced-gas/oil ratio
increases rapidly.
Gas/Oil Relative Permeabilities For Different Temperatures. By
use of the mathematical treatment of experimental data for foamy
oil at different temperatures, we calculate the gas/oil relative per-
meability of foamy oil by the Johnson-Bossler-Naumann (JBN)
method, as shown in Figs. 9 through 14. The relative permeability
2 1 0 0
8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Pressure (MPa)
Fig. 8—Relation of gas-production rate with pressure in the
sandpack.
relations of foamy oil exhibit unique characteristics. The highest
gas saturation is lower than 0.168. The gas relative permeability is
lower than the oil relative permeability by 2–4 orders of magni-
tude. No intersection is observed on the oil and gas relative perme-
ability curves. The gas relative permeabilities slowly increase with
the evolved-gas saturation. The relative permeability curves of
foamy oil can be divided into the following four stages:
• Stage 1: The first stage comprises the single-phase flow of
live oil, in which the pressure is higher than the bubblepoint
pressure. No released gas is detected in the sandpack, and
live oil flows in the porous media because of the elastic
energy. The relative permeability of the oil phase is approxi-
mately unity, and the relative permeability of the gas phase
is zero.
• Stage 2: The second stage comprises the initial period of
two-phase flow, in which the pressure is slightly lower
than the bubblepoint pressure. Gas begins to be released
from the live oil and be dispersed in oil as microbubbles.
The oil permeability decreases because two phases exist
in the porous media. The gas permeability remains at zero
because the gas bubbles adsorb on the pore wall and can-
not flow (Li et al. 2006). The gas saturation in the sand-
pack is approximately 0.02.
• Stage 3: The third stage is the developing period of two-
phase flow, and the pressure is significantly lower than the
bubblepoint pressure and greater than the pseudobubblepoint
pressure. As pressure decreases in the sandpack, the bubble
volumes slowly increase. In this period, the bubble diameter

1
1

0.1 0.1
Relative Permeability
Relative Permeability

Oil Oil
0.01 0.01
Gas Gas

1E–3 1E–3

1E–4 1E–4

1E–5 1E–5
0.00 0.03 0.06 0.09 0.12 0.15 0.00 0.03 0.06 0.09 0.12 0.15
Gas Saturation Gas Saturation

Fig. 9—Gas/oil relative permeability for foamy oil at 54º C. Fig. 10—Gas/oil relative permeability for foamy oil at 75º C.

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1 1

0.1 0.1

Relative Permeability
Relative Permeability

Oil Oil
0.01 0.01
Gas Gas

1E–3 1E–3

1E–4 1E–4

1E–5 1E–5
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20
Gas Saturation Gas Saturation

Fig. 11—Gas/oil relative permeability for foamy oil at 85º C. Fig. 12—Gas/oil relative permeability for foamy oil at 100º C.

is small, the gas-phase-volume fraction is relatively low,
and the bubbles do not coalesce easily. Therefore, the gas
relative permeability ranges from approximately 105 to
104. As the sandpack pressure continues to decrease, the
bubbles begin to coalesce and form a continuous-gas chan-
nel. The gas relative permeability slowly increases, and the
oil relative permeability gradually decreases. The volume of
produced oil in the sandpack is occupied by gas, and the gas
saturation in the sandpack increases. This process continues
until the sandpack pressure is similar to the pseudobubble-
point pressure (Li et al. 2006). The majority of the oil is pro-
duced in this stage.
• Stage 4: The fourth stage comprises the late period of two-
phase flow, in which the pressure is lower than the pseudo-
bubblepoint pressure. As the sandpack pressure continues to
decrease, the bubble-coalescence rate increases and a stable
continuous-gas channel forms in the sandpack, which causes
the gas permeability to increase and the oil permeability to
decrease (Li et al. 2006). Because gas can only induce a
small amount of oil from the sandpack, the produced-gas/oil
ratio rapidly increases. However, the absolute value of gas
relative permeability ranges from approximately 103 to
102. The oil-recovery efficiencies for different tempera-
tures range from 13.78 to 20.23%.
Discussions
Justification of the Assumption For Johnson-Bossler-Naumann
(JBN) Method. The effect of capillary pressure was neglected in
the test, as described previously. In this section, it will be dis-
cussed whether the assumption is reasonable. Bentsen (1978)
shows that linear, two-phase flow through homogeneous, porous
media may be described by a second-order, nonlinear, parabolic
partial-differential equation derived from fundamental flow
equations, including the effects of capillarity. The steady-state
(Buckley-Leverett) solution (Bentsen 1978) is an acceptable
approximation to the solution of the governing displacement equa-
tions, including capillarity, provided the capillary number, Nc, is
sufficiently small. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the discrepancy
between the transient solution and the steady-state solution
decreases with decreasing mobility ratio, for any given value of Nc.
The use of the steady-state solution provides an acceptable estimate
of breakthrough-displacement efficiency, provided Nc is less than
approximately 0.01. As shown in Table 3, the average capillary
numbers of the solution-gas-drive experiments with heavy oil under
different temperatures are very small, the orders of being only
109. They are much smaller than 0.01, which means the effect of
capillary pressure can be neglected. It is apparent that the steady-
state solution [noncapillary Buckley-Leverett (Bentsen 1978)] is an
acceptable approximation for the solution-gas-drive experiments.
Numerical-Simulation Method For Determining the Relative
Permeabilities. Numerical simulation has been used to model
laboratory tests and thereby provide another alternative-interpre-
tation procedure. The simulation uses sandpack properties and
trial-and-error relative permeabilities. The shapes of the relative
permeability curves are adjusted until calculated oil-recovery and
gas-production curves match those obtained from the laboratory-
displacement tests. The relative permeabilities of the JBN method
and the numerical-simulation method under 54 C are shown in
Fig. 15, which displays that the results are very close to each

1 1

0.1 0.1
Relative Permeability
Relative Permeability

Oil
0.01 Oil 0.01 Gas
Gas

1E–3 1E–3

1E–4 1E–4

1E–5 1E–5
0.00 0.03 0.06 0.09 0.12 0.15 0.00 0.03 0.06 0.09 0.12 0.15
Gas Saturation Gas Saturation

Fig. 13—Gas/oil relative permeability for foamy oil at 120º C. Fig. 14—Gas/oil relative permeability for foamy oil at 150º C.

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Table 3—Capillary numbers for different experiments. IFT 5 interfacial tension.

1 18 Experimental result
JBN relative-permeabilities
16 Stimulation relative-permeabilities
0.1
14
Relative Permeability

JBN Kro
12

Oil Recovery (%)

JBN Krg
0.01 Simulation Kro
10
Simulation Krg
8
1E–3
6

1E–4 4
2
1E–5 0
0.00 0.03 0.06 0.09 0.12 0.15
Gas Saturation 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Pressure (MPa)
Fig. 15—Comparison of relative permeabilities for Johnson-
Bossler-Naumann (JBN) and simulation methods at 54º C. Fig. 16—Comparison of oil recoveries for Johnson-Bossler-
Naumann (JBN) and simulation methods at 54º C.

other, with a maximum relative difference of 12.6%. The relative
differences of other experiments with different temperatures are
from 8.2 to 17.2%. The relative permeability curves of the numer-
ical-simulation method are much smoother, but the method takes
more time and is more complicated than the JBN method. The oil
recoveries from JBN relative permeabilities and simulation rela-
tive permeabilities at 54 C are displayed in Fig. 16, which are
good fits for the experimental results. The JBN method has been
proposed to interpret relative permeability characteristics from so-
lution-gas-drive experiments with Orinoco belt heavy oil. The
technique has provided meaningful relative permeability curves
for foamy-oil flow in porous media.
Reasons For Flow Characteristics of Foamy Oil in Porous
Media. Gas relative permeabilities and gas/oil relative perme-
ability ratios for foamy oil at different temperatures are shown in
Figs. 17 and 18, respectively. Because of an increase in tempera-
ture, oil relative permeability changes slightly. However, the gas
relative permeability and gas/oil relative permeability ratio show
a distinct increase with temperature.
The flow characteristics of foamy oil in porous media are
explained by the physical properties of Orinoco belt heavy oil.
The four components of the heavy oil were tested, as shown in
Table 4. The resin and asphaltene concentrations are 21.73 and
13.51 wt%, respectively, which are very high compared with

0.1 1
54°C 54°C
Gas/Oil Relative Permeability Ratio

75°C 75°C
85°C 0.1 85°C
Gas Relative Permeability

0.01 100°C 100°C

120°C 120°C
150°C 0.01 150°C

1E–3
1E–3

1E–4
1E–4

1E–5 1E–5
0.00 0.04 0.08 0.12 0.16 0.20 0.00 0.04 0.08 0.12 0.16 0.20
Gas Saturation Gas Saturation

Fig. 17—Gas relative permeability for foamy oil at different Fig. 18—Gas/oil relative permeability ratio for foamy oil at differ-
temperatures. ent temperatures.

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 J174089 DOI: 10.2118/174089-PA Date: 3-February-16
Table 4—Four components of Orinoco belt heavy oil.
other heavy oils (Li et al. 2006; Cui et al. 2013). The macromole-
cules of resin and asphaltene increase the stability of the bubble
film, and the bubbles resist coalescing. The high resin and asphal-
tene concentrations produce high viscosity of Orinoco belt heavy
oil (Fig. 4). A gas breakthrough in the oil phase to form a continu-
ous gas phase is more difficult, and more gas flows in a dispersed
state (Li et al. 2012); thus, the gas relative permeability is signifi-
cantly lower compared with the conventional solution-gas drive
for light oil (Guo et al. 2004).
Interfacial tensions (IFTs) of crude oil and solution gas at dif-
ference temperatures were tested, as shown in Fig. 19. The results
show that IFT increases with temperature. According to the
results, the bubble-coalescence rate increases at high tempera-
tures, which can cause instability of foamy oil and an increase in
gas relative permeability. The results are consistent with other
studies (Maini and Sarma 1994; Sheng 1996; Zhang 1999). Low
viscosity at high temperatures can reduce flow resistance in the
sandpack, and the oil recovery can be improved. The combination
of the two effects of temperature causes foamy oil to exhibit the
best production effect at an intermediate temperature. The highest
oil-recovery efficiency is measured at 100 C in the experiments.
Fig. 19 also illustrates that IFT decreases with pressure. As pres-
sure depletion occurs in the sandpack, the foamy oil is more
unstable, which will result in conventional solution-gas drive.
Thus, gas relative permeabilities increase with gas saturation, as
shown in Fig. 18.
The results obtained for the experiments with Orinoco belt
heavy oil indicate that the main mechanism for high recovery effi-
ciency for foamy oil is low gas mobility caused by the oil compo-
nents and the high viscosity. The gas relative permeability of
foamy oil is on the order of 105 to 103, several orders of magni-
tude fewer than the gas relative permeability of light oil (Su et al.
2002). Thermal recovery at an intermediate temperature is suita-
ble for foamy oil. However, a significantly higher temperature can
reduce foamy behavior, which appears to counteract the positive
effect of viscosity reduction.
Conclusions
• By use of physical-simulation experiments for solution-gas
drive, the effect of temperature on foamy-oil recovery and gas/
oil relative permeability was investigated. The oil-recovery effi-
ciency increases and then decreases with temperature, and the
oil-recovery efficiency attains the maximum value of 20.23% at
an intermediate temperature of 100 C. Significantly higher tem-
peratures can reduce foamy behavior, which appears to counter-
act the positive effect of viscosity reduction. In the process of
pressure depletion, pressure differences for foamy-oil flow in
porous media increase and then decrease. Pressure differences
rapidly decrease with temperature.
• The Johnson-Bossler-Naumann (JBN) method has been pro-
posed to interpret relative permeability characteristics from so-
lution-gas-drive experiments with Orinoco belt heavy oil,
neglecting the effect of capillary pressure. The validity of the
technique has been proved by the simulation method. The gas/
oil relative permeability of foamy oil exhibits special character-
istics. The gas relative permeability is lower than the oil relative
permeability by 2–4 orders of magnitude. No intersection is
observed on the oil and gas relative permeability curves. The
oil relative permeabilities change slightly with an increase in
temperature, and the gas relative permeability and gas/oil
relative permeability ratio show a distinct increase with
temperature.
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42
39
IFT of Oil and Gas (mN/m)
36
33
54°C
85°C
120°C
30
27
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5
Pressure (MPa)
Fig. 19—IFT of oil and solution gas for different temperatures.
• The flow characteristics of foamy oil in porous media can be
explained by the physical properties of Orinoco belt heavy oil.
High concentrations of resin and asphaltene produce high vis-
cosity, which prevents gas breakthrough in heavy oil. The mac-
romolecules in resin and asphaltene increase the stability of the
bubble films, and the bubbles do not coalesce easily, compared
with solution-gas drive of light oil. The increase in gas relative
permeability with temperature is caused by high interfacial ten-
sions and bubble-coalescence rates at high temperatures.
Nomenclature
fo(Sg) ¼ oil cut in the produced fluid, fraction
I ¼ ratio of flow capabilities, dimensionless
Krg ¼ gas relative permeability, fraction
Kro ¼ oil relative permeability, fraction
pa ¼ atmospheric pressure, MPa
Qo ¼ initial oil-production rate from the sandpack end face,
cm3/s
Q(t) ¼ initial fluid-production rate out of the sandpack end
face, cm3/s
Sge ¼ gas saturation at the sandpack end face, fraction
Vo(t) ¼ cumulative oil production, cm3
Vp ¼ pore volume of the sandpack, cm3
V(t) ¼ cumulative production of gas and oil, cm3
V(t–1) ¼ cumulative oil and gas production at time t–1, cm3
Dp ¼ pressure difference in the sandpack, MPa
Dp0 ¼ initial pressure difference of the sandpack, MPa
Dp(t) ¼ pressure difference of the sandpack at time t, MPa
DVg ¼ gas production from time t–1 to t at atmospheric pres-
sure, cm3
DVo ¼ oil production from time t–1 to t, cm3
Acknowledgments
Financial support is received by the National Natural Science Foun-
dation of China (Nos. 51274228 and 51304229), the National Natu-
ral Science Foundation of Shandong Province (No. 2012ZRE28014),
the National Key Scientific and Technological Project for the Oil
& Gas Field and Coalbed Methane (No. 2011ZX05032-001), and
the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.
We are grateful to the Foam Research Center at the China
University of Petroleum (East China) for their assistance with the
experimental research.
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Songyan Li is an associate professor at China University of Pe-
troleum (East China). His research interests are in heavy-oil ex-
ploitation and foam theory and application in petroleum
engineering. Li holds a PhD degree in oil- and gasfield devel-
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opment engineering from China University of Petroleum (East
China). He is a member of SPE.
Zhaomin Li is a professor at China University of Petroleum (East
China). His research subjects include non-Newtonian hydro-
mechanics, foam theory, and heavy-oil recovery. Li holds a
PhD degree in oil- and gas-well drilling engineering from China
University of Petroleum (Beijing). He is a member of SPE.
179