SPE 113409

Anisotropic Relative Permeabilities for Characterising Heavy-Oil Depletion

Experiment
C.C. Ezeuko and S.R. McDougall, Heriot-Watt University; I. Bondino, TOTAL E&P UK; G.Hamon, TOTAL S.A
Copyright 2008, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2008 SPE/DOE Improved Oil Recovery Symposium held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.A., 1923 April 2008.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its
officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to
reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of SPE copyright.


Abstract
In recent years, the use of pore-scale network models has greatly advanced our understanding of solution gas drive processes
by accounting for the complex dynamics operating at the microscopic scale. Moreover, it has also been demonstrated that a
pore-network model, when suitably anchored to core material is able to provide both qualitative and quantitative descriptions
of relative permeability and hydrocarbon recovery. In contrast, many so-called experimental depletion drive relative
permeabilities are not measured directly but are generally obtained by history-matching laboratory production data with
reservoir simulators, often resulting in very low gas relative permeabilities that are difficult to explain from a physical
viewpoint. Although pore-scale network models have been successfully used in the past to match raw production data, the
steady-state relative permeabilities calculated from such models commonly predict much slower gas saturation build-up than
that found experimentally. Some previous authors have related this low gas saturation build-up to the difference in the
definition of critical gas saturation between reservoir simulators and pore-network models. However, the dentritic nature of
gas-cluster topology in network models, especially in the presence of other forces, such as gravity or strong viscous pressure
gradients, clearly suggests that significant anisotropy may exist in relative permeability due to the balance of forces at this
scale.
In the present work, we describe how the nave process of scaling up steady-state relative permeabilities obtained from
pore-scale network models to the laboratory scale may contribute significantly to the difficulty in history-matching
experimental production. By considering the influence of the various forces (capillary, gravity, viscous) on the topology of the
growing gas clusters and by accurately incorporating anisotropic network-model relative permeabilities, we show that high gas
saturation build-up, consistent with experimental observations can be obtained from reservoir simulation.

Introduction
Depletion or depressurisation of gas-oil systems is a proven recovery method that has successfully been implemented both in
heavy-oil [Tang et al. 2006; Kumar et al. 2000; de Mirabal et al. 1977] and light-oil systems [Gallagher et al. 1999]. In
addition to the unexpectedly large oil recoveries from some heavy oil depressurisations, a combination of lower green house
gas emissions and relatively low operating cost have ensured that the process continues to attract interest from researchers and
industry. Several experimental, [Tang et al. 2006; Sahni et al. 2004; Kumar et al. 2000] theoretical [Yortsos and Parlar, 1989]
and network modelling [Bondino et al. 2005; McDougall and Sorbie, 1999; McDougall and Mackay, 1998] works carried out
over the years have significantly improved our understanding of solution-gas drive systems, which are generally characterized
by nucleation of bubbles, growth of bubbles by mass diffusion across gas-oil interfaces, expansion, and possible migration.
Critical gas saturation (S
gc
) and relative permeability are of key importance for describing multiphase gas-oil flow and past
experiments have shown that internal drive gas relative permeability could be several orders of magnitude less than external
drive relative permeability [Egermann and Vizika, 2000; Naylor et al. 2000].

Increasing effort to enhance existing
understanding of solution-gas drive processes, in addition to obtaining S
gc
and relative permeability parameters, has
encouraged a recent increase in laboratory depletion experiments [Piccavet et al. 2006; Tang et al. 2006; Sahni et al. 2004].
Although the non-equilibrium process pertinent to solution-gas drive systems is not accounted for in conventional reservoir
simulators, laboratory depletion experiments are commonly interpreted by adjusting parameters of a Corey-type relative
permeability curve in reservoir simulators, to history-match experimental production and pressure data [Piccavet et al. 2006;
Ostos and Maini, 2004 ; Kumar et al. 2000]. This also means that relative permeability curves have to be modified for each
experiment resulting in loss of predictive capability. In contrast, the ability of pore-scale network models to account in some
detail for the physics of solution-gas-drive (including non-equilibrium physics), have led to their increasing use to study
2 SPE 113409
critical gas saturation, S
gc
and relative permeabilities [McDougall and Sorbie, 1999; Li and Yortsos, 1993]. Notably, Poulsen
et al [2001] used a pore network model to show that the difference between internal and external drive gas relative
permeability decreases with increasing coordination number (a measure of rock interconnectedness). A priori calculation of S
gc

and relative permeabilities from pore network models is therefore feasible when they are suitably anchored to a physical rock
sample.
Bondino et al.[2005; 2003] successfully matched experimental gas saturation and production data using a network model
anchored to a sandstone core. However, the network model generated adjuvant steady-state relative permeability curves that
appeared too high compared to the values obtained from history-matching using a reservoir simulator. A number of factors,
including the difficulty in reproducing the network-model boundary conditions in the reservoir simulator may have contributed
to this.
In this work, we postulate that when additional forces (viscous or gravity) are significantly active, anisotropy may exist in
relative permeability/S
gc
and that this should be accounted for when calculating steady-state relative permeability from pore
network models. This is based on micromodel observations [Dominguez et al. 1999] which show that gas cluster shape
become more anisotropic with increasing bond number. In their work, Bondino et al. [2003] also noted that anisotropy in
unsteady-state relative permeability could be captured by measuring gas fluxes in the buffer of an extended network model.
Notwithstanding, this is the first work to our knowledge that presents both methodology and results showing anisotropic
relative permeability from depressurisation network modelling. Our 2D simulation results show that even at small scales
(18mm), significant perturbation to capillary entry pressures may exist in heavy-oil systems undergoing depletion. This
phenomenon is shown to manifest itself in 3D as anisotropy in relative permeability. We note that rigorous scaling (which is
beyond the scope of this work) is needed for network-model derived relative permeability to be used for reservoir scale
simulation.

Brief description of network model
The pore-scale network modelling simulator used here was originally developed by McDougall and co-workers [2005 ; 2003 ;
1997] and has been extended for modelling gas evolution during depressurisation of both virgin and water-flooded systems
[Bondino et al. 2005 ; McDougall and Sorbie, 1999 ; McDougall and Mackay, 1998]. The model is a 3D regular network of
pore elements (bonds) with capillary-entry radii assigned from a range of pore-size distribution functions via an internally
seeded random number generator. The average network coordination number, z can be reduced by randomly removing bonds
from the network. Important processes observed in several micromodel experiments of solution-gas drive: bubble nucleation,
multiphase diffusion, bubble growth, oil shrinkage, gravitational effects, viscous forces and the methodology for incorporating
them in the network will be briefly described while the reader is referred to McDougall and Sorbie [1999], McDougall and
Mackay [1998], and Bondino et al. [2005] for further details.
Recently, the network model has been further enhanced, incorporating measured correlations between capillary-entry radii,
pore length and pore shape factor. Although we note that shape factor is not a unique descriptor of cross-sectional shapes, it
provides a generally acceptable means of representing the highly irregular shape of real pores observed from core images.
Details of the enhanced anchoring capabilities of our network are being prepared for publication.

Bubble Nucleation
The instantaneous nucleation (IN) model proposed by Firoozabadi and Kashchiev [1996], and Progressive nucleation (PN)
model of Li and Yortsos [1993]; Tsimpanogianis and Yortsos [2001] can both be modelled by the network simulator. Li and
Yortsos [1993] ;

Tsimpanogianis and Yortsos [2001] proposed that progressive nucleation is likely to occur in crevices
hosting pre-existing gas bubbles on pore walls with poor liquid wettability. A crevice of width, W is thus activated when the
local supersaturation exceeds its critical supersaturation as shown:
( )
W
P KC
l
2

(1)
where C is the local dissolved gas concentration, K is the gas solubility constant,
l
P is the local liquid pressure and is the
gas/liquid interfacial tension. Indeed, the effect of wettability can be included by adding the contact angle term to the right-
hand side of Eq. 1. PN is modelled in the simulator by explicitly distributing sites of increased nucleation potential such that
nucleation (site activation) is most likely to occur first in sites possessing the lowest energy barrier to nucleation (Cf the largest
crevice size according to Eq. 1). There is therefore a dependence of the bubble density on local supersaturation which also
depends on pressure decline rate. Implementation of the IN model is more straightforward once a fixed supersaturation is
reached, a pre-defined number of bubbles are instantaneously nucleated at random sites. This algorithm is particularly useful
for studying the effect of other PVT parameters upon oil recovery without the additional complexity introduced by the
progressive formation of additional gas sinks.

Multiphase diffusion
During depletion in porous media, dissolved gas concentration varies locally. In the network simulator, the gas mass flux
diffusing across a unit area is modelled by Ficks first law:

SPE 113409 3
( )
L
C C D
j
i j
ij

=
.. (2)
where
ij
j is the mass flux from pore i to pore j, C
i
is the dissolved gas concentration in pore i, C
j
is the dissolved gas
concentration in pore j, D is the diffusion coefficient, and L is the diffusion length (in this model equal to distance between
two pore centres). The local concentration gradient drives the direction of gas flux and the temporal evolution of gas
concentration within each pore is modelled by Ficks second law:

x
C
D
x t
C
......................................................................................................................... (3)

Growth
The growth algorithm tracks the diffusion controlled growth of sub-pore nuclei until the bubble fills the host pore. At this
stage, further expansion of the gas bubble into the surrounding network is controlled by capillary entry pressures of the
neighbouring pores. Depending on the spreading coefficient, double-displacement is also possible in water-flooded networks
and pressure-dependent interfacial tension is also accounted for. We note at this point that a strongly water-wet system (unless
otherwise stated) was assumed in all simulations presented here and that the network was initially 100% oil-saturated.

Buoyancy effect on bubble growth
In the network simulator, the pressure of a gas bubble (cluster) depends upon the mass of gas within it and its associated
volume. In the absence of gravitational effects, continuous pressure decline and consequent diffusion-driven mass transfer
would cause gas to preferentially grow into neighbouring pores with the largest radius. If a growing gas cluster is constrained
however (i.e. host pore radius greater than those of all perimeter oil pores), it remains constrained until sufficient gas has been
transferred into the bubble such that the local capillary pressure exceeds the minimum entry pressure (P
c
min
) of the perimeter
oil pores (gas/oil system):

min
c oil gas
P P P > ...... (4)

In the presence of gravitational forces, the minimum capillary entry pressure is defined as:

=
i
i
go
i
c
gh
r
P
2
min
min
... (5)

where

is the density difference between oil and gas, r is capillary entry radius, g is gravitational constant, i is an index
running across the oil-filled perimeter pores of the gas cluster, h is the height of oil-filled pore above the bottom of bubble
(increasing towards the top of the network), and
go
is gas-oil interfacial tension. Eq. 5 suggests that, all other parameter being
constant, the oil-pore at the tip of a growing gas cluster (increasing h) is most likely to be invaded next. A growing gas cluster
may also be subject to gravitational (spontaneous) migration into an oil-filled pore, i, if the local bond number (N
BO
) satisfies
the condition:

1
2
>

=
i
go
i
BO
r
gh
N

....... (6)

where the variables are as defined previously. Migration events are accompanied by oil re-imbibition and the possible
fragmentation of gas clusters, all of which is included in the model.

It is interesting to note, that recent observations from depletion experiments of Tang et al. [2006] and Sahni et al. [2004] have
shown that gravity could play a vital role in the pattern of gas evolution in heavy-oil systems. Using a vertically oriented 40cm
length sandpack for a laboratory heavy-oil depletion experiment, Tang et al. [2006] observed a non-uniform gas saturation
distribution (increasing towards the top) within the sandpack. The non-uniform gas saturation was attributed to upward gas
movement because of viscous and gravity forces.

Network simulation
Heavy-oil fluid properties from Bondino et al. [2005] were used for the simulations in the present work and are summarized in
Table 1. A diffusion coefficient of the order 10
-6
m
2
/day was calculated using the Hayduk and Minhas [1982] correlation. Oil
formation volume factor, FVF was assumed constant at 1.0. Although gas-oil interfacial tension (
go
) usually show some
4 SPE 113409
significant increase with decreasing pressure in light oil systems, PVT information for the heavy oil used in this work suggest
a very small change down to very low pressure. Consequently, no pressure dependency has been assumed for
go
. A constant
pore length of 300m was used for all the simulations. Network properties common to all simulations are presented in Table
2. Our network properties were chosen to best represent the properties of the sandpack used in Tang et al. [2006].

Table 1:Fluid properties
Oil bubble point pressure (Pb) 754 psi
Gas-Oil interfacial tension,
go

22 mN/m
Oil density (surface conditions) 984 kg/m
3

Gas density (surface conditions) 0.78 kg/m
3

Oil viscosity 314 cP
Initial gas concentration (R
s
) 15.5 sm
3
/sm
3


Table 2:Network properties
R
min
-R
max
30m-60m(uniform)
Porosity 28%
Permeability 2.9Darcies
Pore length 300 x 10
-6
m

Small-scale network (mm scale)
Two depressurisation simulations (one with gravity active and one without gravity) were first carried out on a fully connected
60x20 (18mm x 6mm) network with 2 bubbles instantaneously nucleated (1 bubble per 1200 pores). Boundary conditions were
chosen to mimic rock sections close to the production port of a laboratory-scale experiment, so that gas was allowed to be
produced once it reached the outlet. Fig. 1 (a & b) shows the network fluid occupancies at different pressures without and with
gravity respectively (oil is red, gas is white). The topology of the gas structure is exactly identical for both simulations at 604
psi. At a later pressure (444psi), however, a significant difference in topology has developed between the two simulations even
at this very small scale.


P=604psi P=444psi P=604psi P=444psi
(a) (b)
Fig. 1- 2D simulation on a small 60x20x1(18mm x 6mm) network, bubble density = 1/1200. (a) without gravity; (b) with gravity

Fig.2 and Fig. 3 compare the pore-size distribution of gas-filled pores at 604 psi and 444 psi respectively. Since the network
properties are identical and displacement of oil by gas is an invasion percolation process, it is expected that the gas pore-size
distribution would be the same in both simulations as long as gas topology is capillary biased. However, as gas clusters grow
(increase in cluster height) with pressure depletion, the percolation pattern becomes more gravity biased (when P<604psi in
this case) due to increased perturbation of the capillary entry pressures (Eq. 5). It is expected that the critical cluster height and
saturation at which the growth pattern in a gravity-active system deviates from that with no gravity will depend upon the fluid
properties and the petrophysical properties of the network, such as capillary-entry size distribution. The network considered
here is highly permeable with relatively large capillary entry radii (low capillary entry thresholds). One should therefore
expect that a distribution of higher capillary entry thresholds in a lower permeability system, may delay the onset of gravity
destabilization. The implication of this result is that relative permeability values calculated at the network scale may not be
representative of the process expected at the larger scale. However, for a particular rock/fluid system, larger pore network
simulations can be used to predict the scale at which gravity destabilization is expected to occur.
Top
Bottom
j
SPE 113409 5
It has been shown in Bondino et al. [2005] that, all other factors remaining the same, gas bubbles grow faster in systems
with lower bubble densities. Low bubble densities would be expected in the far field region due to low field depletion rates,
while the majority of laboratory depletion experiments are performed at considerably higher rates. Further simulations were
therefore carried out to investigate the influence of a large bubble density (1 per 26 pores) on gravity-biased growth. It was
observed that gravity destabilization of the growth path was significantly reduced at a high bubble density. In Fig. 4, it is
difficult to discern any difference between the model with gravity and that without gravity even at 444psi (i.e. after a depletion
of 310psi). This is primarily due to increased bubble competition for the available dissolved gas when the bubble density is
high. This means that bubble heights do not reach the critical value required for gravity destabilization. It also suggests that at
typical laboratory depletion rates (high bubble density), the impact of gravitational forces may be greatly underestimated. The
gravity perturbation of gas growth also has a profound effect on the recovery at low bubble density. Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 show
that even for a network of the length scale considered (18mm), there is a noticeable difference in the predicted gas saturation
profile between models with and without gravity at low bubble density. Predicted final gas saturation is larger in the model
without gravity when compared to the model with gravity. The reason for this becomes clearer when the interface areas are
compared, Fig. 6. Gravity perturbation of cluster growth results in a more elongated cluster topology with smaller interface
area. In consonance with observations from the occupancy graphics (Cf Fig. 4), gas saturation profiles with and without
gravity are similar when bubble density is large, suggesting a less significant impact of gravity-bias at large bubble density,
Fig. 7.

0
0.002
0.004
0.006
0.008
0.01
0.012
3
0
.
3
3
4
.
5
3
8
.
7
4
2
.
9
4
7
.
1
5
1
.
3
5
5
.
5
5
9
.
7
radius (microns)
r
e
l
a
t
i
v
e


f
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y
no_gravity
with_gravity
0
0.002
0.004
0.006
0.008
0.01
0.012
3
0
.
3
3
4
.
5
3
8
.
7
4
2
.
9
4
7
.
1
5
1
.
3
5
5
.
5
5
9
.
7
radius (microns)
r
e
l
a
t
i
v
e



f
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y
no_gravity
with_gravity

Fig. 2 - Gas pore radius histogram at 604psi, 18mm length
2D-network.
Fig. 3- Gas pore radius histogram at 444psi, 18mm length 2D-
network.


P=604psi P=444psi P=604psi P=444psi
(a) (b)
Fig. 4- 2D simulation on a small 60x20x1(18mm x 6mm) network, bubble density = 1/26. (a) without gravity; (b) with gravity

Top
Bottom
j
6 SPE 113409
1 bubble per 1200 pores
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
0.35
0 200 400 600 800
P (psi)
S
g

(
f
r
a
c
t
i
o
n
)
no_gravity
with_gravity
1 bubble per 1200 pores
0.00E+00
2.00E-06
4.00E-06
6.00E-06
8.00E-06
1.00E-05
1.20E-05
0 200 400 600 800
P (psi)
g
a
s
-
o
i
l

i
n
t
e
r
f
a
c
e

a
r
e
a

(
m
2
)
no_gravity
with_gravity

Fig. 5- Effect of gravity on gas saturation, bubble
density=1/1200, 18mm length 2D-network.
Fig. 6 - Effect of gravity on gas-oil interface area, bubble
density=1/1200, 18mm length 2D-network.

1 bubble per 26 pores
0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
0 200 400 600 800
P (psi)
S
g

(
f
r
a
c
t
i
o
n
)
no_gravity
with_gravity

Fig. 7- Effect of gravity on gas saturation, bubble density=1/26, 18mm length 2D-network.

Core-scale network (cm scale)
Our observation from 18mm network showed that the effect of gravity-biased growth seems to disappear for large bubble
densities. Additional simulations were performed on a 50cm length 2D network comprising of more than 66,600 pores. Low
and high nucleation bubble densities similar to those of the 18mm network were adopted. By comparing Fig. 8 (a & b), it can
be seen that the difference in gas saturation profile between simulations with and without gravity decreases with increase in
bubble density. In both cases however, the final recovery is consistent with our expectation larger bubble density results in
higher recovery. The simulation results suggest that in the heavy-oil system considered, the impact of gravity is strongly
dependent on bubble density and is unlikely to be dominant when bubble density is large, even at the core scale. An intriguing
observation can be made by comparing Fig. 8 (a) & Fig. 5. - why is the gas saturation trend now reversed? While the
simulation with gravity predicted lower final gas saturation at the small scale (18mm), the final gas saturation is higher with
gravity in the 50cm high network. The reasons for this reversal in trend and its implication on experimental interpretation are
explored next.

1 bubble per 1200 pores
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
0.35
0 200 400 600 800
P (psi)
S
g

(
f
r
a
c
t
i
o
n
)
no_gravity
with_gravity
1bubble per 26 pores
0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
0.70
0 200 400 600 800
P (psi)
S
g

(
f
r
a
c
t
i
o
n
)
no_gravity
with_gravity

Fig. 8- Effect of network length on gravity-biased growth, 50cm length network. (a) low bubble density (b) high bubble density

Gas cluster migration
A plot of the gas cluster pressure history from the core-scale simulation, Fig. 9 shows that the number of gas clusters in both
simulations (with and without gravity) initially decreased with declining pressure as bubble coalescence occurs. However, for
the gravity active simulation, the number of gas clusters began to increase at lower pressure. As the gas clusters continue to
grow in size, the gravity term of the entry pressure (Eqn. 5) increases. If the network is long enough for the condition defined
by Eqn. 6 to be satisfied, then spontaneous migration events occur. This increase in the number of gas clusters in Fig. 9
a b
SPE 113409 7
coincides with the onset of gravitational migration (N
BO
>1) followed by oil re-imbibition and consequent bubble
fragmentation.

1 bubble per 1200 pores
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
0 200 400 600 800
P (psi)
N
o
.

o
f

g
a
s

c
l
u
s
t
e
r
s
no_gravity
with_gravity

Fig. 9- Pressure history of gas clusters, low bubble density, 50cm length network.

Following the fragmentation of a large growing gas cluster into daughter bubbles, the total number of bubbles residing in the
network (i.e. the effective bubble density) increases and hence so too does the subsequent recovery. A plot of the average
height of migrating gas clusters, Fig. 10 shows that for the rock/fluid system under investigation, an average gas cluster height
of 9.5cm needs to be reached before gas migration is possible.

1 per 1200 pores, with_gravity
0.05
0.06
0.07
0.08
0.09
0.1
150 200 250 300 350 400
P (psi)
H
e
i
g
h
t

o
f

m
i
g
r
a
t
i
n
g
c
l
u
s
t
e
r
s

(
m
)

Fig. 10- Height of migrating clusters with pressure, (50cm length network).

Consequently, such gravitational migration phenomena would not have been observed in laboratory experiments on core
samples shorter that 9.5cm. Before we introduce our 3D simulations, we briefly summarize some important inferences from
our 2D simulations observations:

i. Significant differences in gas saturation can be observed when the gravity force is active, due to the perturbation of
growth pattern. To calculate relative permeabilities, network simulations should be used to explore the scale at which
gravity destabilization is expected.
ii. Gas topology becomes increasingly anisotropic when gravity destabilization is dominant and this should be accounted
for when calculating relative permeabilities and S
gc
.
iii. By calculating anisotropic relative permeability from relatively large networks, it may be possible to capture the
effect of gravity destabilization on relative permeability.
iv. If the network (or core) is of sufficient length and the rock/fluid properties permit gravitational migration, gas is
likely to flow more in a discontinuous form. If this occurs, steady-state K
rg
=0. Suitable unsteady-state relative
permeability formulation is required to describe oil and gas flow when gravitational migration occurs.


Pore-scale network model anisotropic K
r
calculation
To calculate relative permeabilities from pore-scale network models, 3D networks are required. Although ambiguity still exists
regarding the definition of critical gas saturation, S
gc
and reported experimental values vary widely, a somewhat general
agreement does exist that S
gc
tends to increase with increasing depletion rate. Critical gas saturation defined as

the gas
saturation when the first sample-spanning gas cluster forms [Li and Yortsos, 1993 ; Yortsos and Parlar, 1989] is a valid
definition, so long as gas cluster growth is primarily controlled by capillary forces and migration events do not occur
[Tsimpanogiannis and Yortsos, 2004]. In our network model, and in keeping with the aforementioned approach, steady-state
gas relative permeability is non-zero only when a sample-spanning gas cluster has formed. We note that it has been suggested
Onset of migration
8 SPE 113409
by Tsimpanogiannis and Yortsos [2004] that when migration and/or viscous mobilization of gas clusters is possible, S
gc
should
be defined as the gas saturation when the first mobilization occurs.

In order to calculate anisotropic relative permeabilities, the network is simply transposed and relevant pore occupancy and
volume information is recorded at predefined intervals during depressurisation. Although a large data storage capability is
required for book-keeping the relevant data, we successfully calculated anisotropic relative permeability from 3D network
comprising of more than 172,000 pores.

Anisotropy in K
r
was evaluated by calculating K
r
in two directions.

1. Flow perpendicular to the outlet plane (j-direction=vertical)
2. Flow parallel to the outlet plane (i-direction=horizontal)

For calculating K
r
, we assumed that the network is far away from the boundary (i.e. core production port) such that gas
continues expanding and growing into a ghost external oil-filled network. Note that the height of growing gas cluster as
defined in Eq. 5 increase along the j-direction, (towards the outlet). Therefore, perturbation of the capillary entry pressure is
expected to increase towards the j-direction (Cf Fig. 4). A depressurisation simulation at 5psi/day was first performed on a 3D
network model with 19x19x19 nodes (13mm length) and used to calculate directional relative permeability. Instantaneous
nucleation of 1 bubble per ~8000 pores was utilised and relevant network properties and fluid occupancies recorded at pre-
defined intervals for post-process calculation of directional relative permeability. Firstly, a capillary dominated simulation was
carried out (g=0). Note that, in all the relative permeability figures, gas relative permeability points are represented with open
marker while oil relative permeability points are represented with closed marker. Triangles represent j-direction while squares
represent i-direction. Fig. 11 shows oil and gas relative permeability from a simulation on a cubic network in the absence of
gravitational forces. As expected, both oil and gas relative permeabilities (and S
gc
) are essentially isotropic. Notwithstanding
stochastic variations in the spatial distribution of nucleation sites, the fact that the gravity force is not active in this simulation
means that gas growth is purely capillary-controlled. With gravitational forces switched on, however, oil relative permeability
remained isotropic but gas relative permeability exhibited strong anisotropic behaviour (Fig. 12). The critical gas saturation,
S
gc
defined as the gas saturation in the network when the first sample-spanning gas cluster formed, was also found to be
anisotropic. This anisotropy is due to gravity destabilization, resulting in the preferential growth of gas towards the top of the
network. Consequently, a sample-spanning gas cluster forms much sooner in the vertical (j) direction, resulting in a smaller S
gc

( 4.8%) compared to S
gc
in the horizontal (i) direction ( 15%).
The implication of these results on network modelling of displacement processes involving gas is clear ignoring
gravitational effects at even the mm scale may lead to erroneous predictions of critical gas saturation and relative permeability.
This has been shown to be the case here even for heavy oil: lighter oils could be expected to exhibit even greater anisotropy in
these petrophysical parameters. Of course, at larger scales, the impact of gravity is even more pronounced and some
recognition of this aspect of gas displacements should be taken into account when interpreting associated laboratory
experiments, where core length could be a vital determinant of measured flow properties.

0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60
0.80
1.00
1.20
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15
Sg
K
r
o
0.00E+00
5.00E-04
1.00E-03
1.50E-03
2.00E-03
2.50E-03
3.00E-03
3.50E-03
4.00E-03
K
r
g
Kro(i)
Kro(j)
Krg(i)
Krg(j)

Fig. 11- Directional steady-state oil and gas relative permeabilities (19x19x19 network), gravity off.
SPE 113409 9
0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60
0.80
1.00
1.20
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15
Sg
K
r
o
0.00E+00
5.00E-04
1.00E-03
1.50E-03
2.00E-03
2.50E-03
3.00E-03
3.50E-03
4.00E-03
4.50E-03
5.00E-03
K
r
g
Kro(i)
Kro(j)
Krg(i)
Krg(j)

Fig. 12- Directional steady-state oil and gas relative permeabilities (19x19x19 network), gravity on.

Conclusions
Using pore network model simulations, we have successfully explored the influence of gravity on gas cluster growth during
solution gas drive and examined its implications on relative permeability and critical gas saturation in laboratory experiments.
We have also developed and successfully implemented a methodology for calculating directional relative permeability from
pore network models following 2-phase depressurisation. The main conclusions to be drawn from this work are as follows:
Gravity-biased growth of gas clusters may be possible in heavy-oil systems even at the millimetre scale. This depends
on properties of the rock/fluid system under investigation and can be evaluated using pore network simulations.
In heavy-oil systems, perturbation of the otherwise capillary dominated gas topology increases with increase in length
scale.
Directional steady-state relative permeabilities have been calculated from the pore-network model and it emerged that
gravity-induced anisotropy in relative permeability and S
gc
increases with increasing length scale.
Using a 50cm length network, simulation results suggest that, consistent with previous observations in the laboratory
[Tang et al. 2006], gravitational migration is possible in heavy-oil systems but that this phenomenon is scale-
dependent. Gravitational migration occurs at a relatively large scale in heavy-oil systems and so the implications for
the application of associated laboratory core test data to reservoir-scale simulation are considerable. We further note
that the precise rock/fluid properties and importantly, depletion rate all play a key role on determining the pressure
window characterized by gravitational migration.

Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank TOTAL E&P UK for financial and technical assistance throughout the course of this study.

Nomenclature
Interfacial tension
D diffusion coefficient
L diffusion length
h bubble height
N
BO
bond number
r capillary entry radius
density difference
g gravitational constant
P Pressure
z coordination number
K permeability

Subscripts
c capillary
g gas
o oil
r relative
b bubble point
s solution
l liquid
gc critical gas

Superscripts
min minimum

10 SPE 113409
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