A NOVEL EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS FOR DETERMINATION OF 3-PHASE RELATIVE PERMEABILITIES AT RESERVOIR CONDITIONS

A new three-phase flow apparatus is developed and tested using the new est pumping system and separator available. The flooding apparatus is designed for simultaneous injection and recycling of one, two, or thre e phases at reservoir conditions. Highly accurate pumps inject three p hases virtually pulsefree into the core sample. The downstream end of the core sample is connected to a three-phase acoustic separator. The entire flow apparatus provides a closed loop and recycling of all phas es. As the injection rate of any of the phases can be changed any time , both steady-state as well as unsteady-state type experiments may be performed. Along with production data, the pressure drop across the co re sample is measured as a function of time using differential pressur e transmitters, and, whenever a steady-state condition is attained, th ree-phase in situ saturation profiles are measured using an X-ray syst em. ii full description of this apparatus is given. We outline experim ental procedures and show results from the performance tests of the ap paratus. A comprehensive comparison of average saturation determinatio n by material balance and saturation profiles for a three-phase gas di splacing water and oil case is reported. We further present and analyz e experimental data from a three-phase experiment. (C) 1998 Elsevier S cience B.V.