Applicability of Express Methods of Determination of Efficiency of Solvents for Recovery of Heavy Oil from Carbonate Reservoirs

Abstract

The applicability of express methods for determining the effectiveness of solvents used for heavy oil recovery from carbonate reservoirs is studied. In the three-stage extraction method the wetting and extraction ability of the solvent in oil-saturated carbonate rock can be estimated from the surface tension of the solvent and the attenuation coefficient of the extract, respectively. In the method based on thin-layer chromatography the wetting and extraction ability of the solvent in oil-saturated carbonate rock can be estimated from the average boiling point and refractive index dispersion of the solvent. It was shown that the proposed methods can be used to arrange the solvents in order of their effectiveness in recovery of oil from carbonate reservoirs.