ASPHALTENE FLOW BAHA VIOR IN PRESENCE OF CARBON DIOXIDE (COz) GAS IN POROUS MEDIA

C02 injection is one of efficient enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods among
gas flooding. However, it may change the reservoir fluid properties and cause some
problems such as asphaltene precipitation. Asphaltenes are components of petroleum
whose behavior and structure change with pressure, temperature and oil composition.
For this project, it will concentrate on the precipitation of asphaltene due to C02
injection process for enhanced oil recovery purposes. The asphaltenes turn into solid
form and separate from the rest of the liquid oil. Unwanted asphaltene precipitation is a
serious concern to the petroleum industry because asphaltenes plug up well bores,
decrease production and could cause adverse affect on the oil recovery. Once these
problems occur, it will need high investment of time and money to remove the
asphaltene deposits from wells, transfer lines and storage facilities. To understand the
mechanism of asphaltene deposition is necessary to develop effective engineering
practice for minimizing the formation damage and to design the treatment program for
restoring well productivity. Study shows that the amount of asphaltene precipitation is
depend on the COz concentration. Same goes to reduction in rock porosity and
permeability. Therefore this project will review on the Asphaltene flow behavior in
presence of C02 gas in porous media and how it will cause problem to the well by
developing mathematical considering the relationship of C02 concentration with the
asphaltene precipitatio~ porosity and permeability reduction problems during COz
flooding for Malaysia crude oil.