Wettability alteration and enhanced gas condensate recovery by treatment of carbonate reservoir rock using supercritical R134A and R404A gases

Abstract

Abstract The pressure drop around the well in the production from a gas condensate reservoir causes the formation of condensate in the area before it reaches the well and surface space. This condensate and occasionally water in the porous medium can block the well and create an additional pressure drop. Studies show that the chemical treatment of this area eliminates the problem by altering the reservoir rock wettability toward a moderate and strong gasphilicity. For this purpose, fluoropolymers-, fluorosurfactants-, and fluorochemicals-coated nanoparticles can be used. In this work, we have studied two types of fluoride gas namely R134A and R404A, which are widely used in refrigeration industry as refrigerant gases, perfumery, and industrial detergents. The basis of this study was the aging of rock samples in thin sections and plugs in these two gases at different pressures above the critical pressures of them at 70 °C at different times and then conducting the contact angle experiments by placing the drop of water and condensate on the cross sections and then performing imbibition tests using plugs. The results show that in addition to the efficiency of both gases in wettability alteration to gasphilic, the gasphilic intensity obtained at constant temperature depends on the pressure and the aging time of the samples.

Keywords

• Gas condensate
• Liquid blockage
• R134A
• R404A
• Gasphilicity
• Wettability