Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, Vol.48, No.7, 18-24, 2009
Gas Condensate Reservoir Performance
Gas condensate reservoirs exhibit complex coupling between phase behaviour, interfacial tension, velocity and pore size distribution. Appropriate characterization of the in situ fluids and relevant flow testing can provide valuable insight into gas condensate reservoir forecasting. The following insights were obtained during the course of this testing: 1. The importance of path dependence was shown to be significant when creating equilibrium phases below saturation pressure for use in quantifying phase interference. Differences, due to compositional path, in API gravity of liquids in solution were quantified to be as much as 10 degrees, with molecular weight differences over 110 daltons. 2. End-point saturations, such as trapped gas and residual condensate saturation, are sensitive to the level of interfacial tension (IFT). Critical condensate saturation was less sensitive to IFT (pressure). 3. The two-phase injection approach and the protocol whereby explicit measurement of relative permeability is performed provide a very thorough gas-condensate reservoir data set, which are amenable for use in simulation and reservoir production forecasting.