Experimental Investigation on Asphaltene Deposition in Porous Media During Miscible Gas Injection

Abstract

<em>In this work </em><em>the likelihood of asphaltene deposition problems </em><em>during dynamic displacement of oil by natural gas in unconsolidated porous media is experimentally inspected. The two different </em><em>rock materials, limestone and sandstone, are used as a representative of porous media. </em><em>Dynamic flow experiments indicate that the increase of natural gas injection increases asphaltene deposition in the </em><em>unconsolidated</em><em> matrix. </em><em>The results of the study show that increase in asphaltene deposition leads to pore plugging, porosity reduction and absolute permeability damage. Irreducible water measurements showed that natural gas-induced asphaltenes change the rock wettability to oil-wet.</em>