Oil recovery in the presence of microbubbles in the filtration flow

This paper presents mathematical models for oil-gas flow taking into account the various processes due to the formation of gas micronuclei (microbubbles) in oil: slip of oil relative to the walls of the pore channels (gas lubrication), changes in oil viscosity, and motion of microbubles with respect to oil. We consider examples of oil flow in the near-wellbore zone for the case where a reduction in pressure to the saturation pressure leads to the formation of gas microbubbles and micronuclei and examples of the action of a water-gas mixture in the case where oil foams in the contact area with the injected gas, i.e., a finely dispersed mixture of oil and microbubbles is formed. The behavior of indicator curves for an oil well with the formation of microbubbles is simulated, and the effect of microbubbles on the oil recovery factor in a water-alternating-gas injection process is studied.