Foam Injection: Calibration Methodology From Laboratory Experiments to Pilot Design

Assessing foam injection feasibility implies the design of a foam formulation and tests at core-scale in presence and absence of oil.

In the objective of designing a pilot, a numerical model must be constructed; but foam modelization is difficult as it is influenced by various parameters. It is thus necessary to history-match core-flood experiments according a precise methodology. Numerical simulations are carried out step by step following the respective sequences: co-injection of water and gas in absence of oil (phase 1), foam injection in absence of oil (phase 2), co-injection of water and gas in presence of oil (phase 3) and foam injection in presence of oil (phase 4).

History-match of sequences 1 and 2, allows calibrating water-gas relative permeabilities and foam model influencing parameters (gas mobility reduction, foam concentration, injection velocities, appearance criterion). During history-match of sequences 3 and 4, the water-oil and gas-oil relative permeabilities and, foam disappearance criteria in presence of oil are calibrated.

Applying this methodology in this work, we show how we accurately reproduce laboratory measures. The transition to the field-scale shows the uncertain behavior of some foam parameters, important aspect of the study as it influences to the pilot profitability evaluation.