A Successful Gas-Injection Project in a Heavy Oil Reservoir

Abstract

ABSTRACT Meneven, an affiliate of Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., has been conducting since 1963 a natural-gas-injection project in a heavy-oil reservoir (14–20 °API), located in Eastern Venezuela, immediately north of the Orinoco Oil Belt. Laboratory tests were made to investigate recovery mechanisms, and a black-oil simulator was used to match performance history and predict future performance under continued gas injection. According to the results obtained, the high viscosity (low API gravity) of a reservoir crude is not necessarily a limiting factor in the successful applica tion of conventional gas injection. This unorthodox scheme has proven to be quite successful even in a relatively high oil-gas viscosity ratio reservoir, where cumulative recovery has been 32% of 00IP, and final recovery is estimated at 45% of OOIP.