Flow Visualization Studies of Solution Gas Drive Process in Heavy Oil Reservoirs With a Glass Micromodel

摘要

A series of flow visualization experiments was carried out to ex- amine the pore scale behavior of the solution gas drive process in heavy oil reservoirs. The main objective was to testify several speculative theories that had been put forward to explain the anomalous production behavior of heavy oil reservoirs producing under the solution gas drive process. Contrary to previous postu- lations, the asphaltene constituents did not appear to play a sig- nificant role in the nucleation and stabilization of the gas bubbles that evolved during the solution gas drive process.