--> ABSTRACT: Dispersivity as an Oil Reservoir Rock Characteristic, by Donald E. Menzie, Subijoy Dutta, Reza Shadizadeh, and Mark Warner; #91039 (2010)

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Dispersivity as an Oil Reservoir Rock Characteristic

Donald E. Menzie, Subijoy Dutta, Reza Shadizadeh, Mark Warner

Dispersivity is identified as a measure of a rock's ability to allow mixing of two fluids inside a porous medium. Dispersivity was experimentally determined in this study, the results of which show that dispersivity varies with other physical properties of a rock, such as porosity and permeability. With increasing permeability, the dispersion coefficient and dispersivity of rocks also increase. The results of this experimental study were used (1) to develop an empirical relationship between the permeability and the dispersion coefficient of a rock, (2) to correlate the dispersion characteristics of different cores using Koval's heterogeneity factor (H-factor), and (3) to develop an empirical equation for viscosity correction to obtain a standard dispersion coefficient of rock. A standard dispersion coefficient is defined as the dispersion coefficient obtained experimentally, when the ratio of viscosities of the displacing fluid to the displaced fluid is one, or the viscosities of the two fluids are the same.

Based on the results obtained in this study, it is evident that the dispersivity of a reservoir rock is one of the factors governing the areal and vertical sweep efficiency during an enhanced oil recovery flooding process. The solvent slug size in a hydrocarbon miscible flooding can also be determined by knowing the dispersivity of a reservoir rock. In selecting the reservoir for enhanced oil recovery and to select the specific enhanced oil recovery process, evaluating the dispersion characteristic of the reservoir rock appears to be a very important factor, as is evidenced by this study.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91039©1987 AAPG Mid-Continent Section Meeting, Tulsa, Oklahoma, September 27-29, 1987.