AN UNSTEADY-STATE TECHNIQUE FOR 3-PHASE RELATIVE PERMEABILITY MEASUREMENTS

In situ recovery of heavy oils and bitumens often involves simultaneou s flow of oil, water and gas in the oil sands. Such multi-phase flow i n porous media is a complex process. Mathematical simulation of such r ecovery processes requires a knowledge of the three-phase relative per meability characteristics of the system. Experimentally measured three -phase relative permeability data for heavy oil reservoirs are not ava ilable in the literature. This lack of data is Primarily due to the te dious nature of such measurements and shows a need for developing less time consuming methods. In this study, an unsteady-state technique si milar to the Johnson-Bossler-Naumann (JBN) method for two-phase flow w as developed and used to estimate three-phase relative permeability da ta. The method was validated by comparing the oil isoperms with those obtained using the steady-state method. A reasonably good, agreement w as obtained which suggests that the proposed unsteady-state method cou ld be employed as a faster alternative to obtain three-phase relative permeability data.