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Advances in Petroleum Exploration and Development ISSN 1925-5438 [Online]

Vol. 9, No. 2, 2015, pp. 1-6 www.cscanada.net
DOI:10.3968/7023 www.cscanada.org

An Overview of Methods to Mitigate Condensate Banking in Retrograde Gas

Reservoirs

Mahmood Amani[a],*; Nguyen T. Nguyen[a]

[a]
Texas A&M University at Qatar, Doha, Qater.
*Corresponding author.
Key words: Mitigate condensate banking; Retrograde
gas reservoirs; CO2 Huff-n-Puff
Supported by an NPRP Award [NPRP 5-352-2-137] From the Qatar
National Research Fund (a Member of The Qatar Foundation).
Amani, M., & Nguyen, N. T. (2015). An overview of methods to
Received 2 May 2015; accepted 5 June 2015
mitigate condensate banking in retrograde gas reservoirs. Advances
Published online 30 June 2015
in Petroleum Exploration and Development, 9(2), 1-6. Available from:
URL: http://www.cscanada.net/index.php/aped/article/view/7023
Abstract DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/7023
Condensate blockage is one of the major problems that have
been addressed in the industry for many decades. When the
reservoir fluid pressure drops below the dew point pressure
during the production process, the liquid drops out of the INTRODUCTION
gas phase and forms condensate in the formation. There are When the reservoir fluid pressure drops below the dew
two scenarios that can result in a pressure drop. The first point pressure, liquid drops out of the gas phase and
one is the pressure drop due to the flow of the reservoir forms condensate inside the formation. Hosein et al.
fluid. The reservoir fluid flows from a high pressure of the describe this phenomenon as well as the equations
reservoir to a lower pressure of the separators at the surface. of states that can predict gas condensation [1] , and
The second scenario is the drop in reservoir pressure due Moradi et al. have discussed some of the dew point
to pressure depletion. During the production of gas and and bubble point pressure empirical correlations [2] .
condensate, the reservoir pressure will decrease with time This condensate accumulation, known as condensate
and when it drops below the dew point pressure, condensate banking or condensate blockage, causes a reduction in
forms everywhere inside the reservoir. the relative permeability of gas; hence the productivity
The condensate dramatically reduces the gas dramatically decreases. For example, the productivity of
permeability. Hence, it decreases the gas productivity. the Cal Canal field in California significantly decreased
Several methods have been suggested to solve this due to the dual effect of condensate banking and high
problem such as gas injection, CO 2 Huff-n-Puff, water saturation[3]. The recovery of the Cal Canal Field
wettability alteration, interfacial tension reduction, was only 10% of the original gas-in-place. Another
hydraulic fracturing, and nonconventional wells. Some example is the Arun field in Indonesia where the well
of these methods have been implemented in the field and productivity declined by more than a factor of two
showed positive results, but each method has its own due to the effect of condensate blockage [4]. Figure 1
advantages and disadvantages that need to be studied shows the rapid decrease of both the gas and condensate
further in order to improve its efficiency. This paper productivity of the Arun field from 1997 to 2001 due
will give a general review of all these methods and to the accumulation of condensate in the reservoir.
their effectiveness in mitigating condensate banking. Condensate contains heavy ends which are valuable in
The decision of using a proper treatment of condensate terms of economic factor. Therefore, finding a feasible
banking can then be made based on different scenarios solution to increase the condensate and gas recovery
that are described in this paper. from gas reservoirs is essential.

1 Copyright Canadian Research & Development Center of Sciences and Cultures

An Overview of Methods to Mitigate Condensate
Banking in Retrograde Gas Reservoirs

Figure 1
Arun Separator Gas, Condensate and Water Production Rates[5]
There are two scenarios that can result in a pressure in Figure 2[6]. In region 3, where the fluid pressure is
drop. The first one is the pressure drop due to the flow still above the dew point pressure, there is only a single
of the reservoir fluid. The reservoir fluid flows from gas phase present. In regions 1 and 2, the fluid pressure
a high pressure of the reservoir to a lower pressure of is lower than the dew point pressure, so there are two
the separators at the surface. During the production phases present: gas and condensate. However, the
path, the pressure of the reservoir fluid at some certain difference between these two regions is the mobilization
locations may be lower than the dew point pressure, of condensate. In region 2, the condensate is immobile
and the condensate accumulates at those locations. because the condensate saturation is below the critical
This scenario often happens near the wellbore region. point. On the other hand, in region 1, the condensate
A number of research studies have been conducted to is mobile and flows together with the gas towards the
examine this case, and they showed a transition from wellbore because the condensate saturation is above
single phase to multiple phases near the wellbore due critical saturation. These two regions are the regions of
to condensate formation. According to Al-Yami et al., the condensate banking, so it is important to study the
when the condensate forms near the wellbore, it creates behavior of the fluids in these two regions to be able to
three different mobility regions in the reservoir as shown mitigate condensate banking effects.

Figure 2
Condensate Saturation Below the Dew Point Pressure Flow Behavior in the Three Known Regions[6]
The second scenario is the drop in reservoir pressure reservoir. However, it takes a long time before the initial
due to pressure depletion. During the production of gas reservoir pressure drops down to dew point pressure.
and condensate, the reservoir pressure will decrease Several methods have been suggested to mitigate the
with time. If the reservoir pressure drops below the dew effects of condensate banking. They can be grouped into
point pressure, condensate forms everywhere inside the three different approaches. The first approach is to keep

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 Mahmood Amani; Nguyen T. Nguyen (2015).
Advances in Petroleum Exploration and Development, 9 (2), 1-6

the reservoir pressure above the dew point pressure by

gas cycling or CO2 Huff-n-Puff. The second one is to
mobilize the condensate near the wellbore region in order
to make it flow with gas towards the wellbore. To achieve
this approach, either wettability alteration or reduced
interfacial tension methods can be used. The last approach
is to reduce the drawdown pressure in order to delay the
time of reaching the dew point pressure through hydraulic
fracturing or horizontal wells.

Figure 3
1. GAS INJECTION CO2 Enhanced Gas Recovery Description[13]
Historically, dry gas injection has been one of the most The advantage of gas injection is that it can mitigate
common methods to prevent condensate blockage. the problem of condensate forming deep inside the
Injecting dry gas into the reservoir will help maintain the reservoir. It can be used to prevent condensate from
reservoir pressure above the dew point pressure as well forming inside the reservoir by maintaining the reservoir
as displace the valuable condensate in the reservoir [7]. pressure above the dew point pressure, or it can solve
Also, if condensate blockage already existed inside the condensate blockage problems where condensate has
reservoir, gas injection re-vaporizes the condensate[8]. already formed inside the reservoir. It will re-vaporize
Even though gas cycling is very effective in mitigating the condensate and push the gas toward the producer.
condensate banking, the increase in gas consumption for However, the weakness of this method is that a large
higher value applications has motivated scientists to find amount of gas injection is needed.
an alternative for the injected supply. Farzad et al. studied
reservoir production strategies in miscible and immiscible
gas injection projects [9]. Rostami et al. have studied 2. CO2 HUFF-n-PUFF
the feasibility of miscible gas injection in a carbonate The process of this method is similar to the use of carbon
reservoirs[10]. dioxide injection in Enhanced Gas Recovery where CO2
Carbon dioxide, pure methane, and nitrogen are is used to displace natural gas and condensate in order
considered alternatives for dry gas. Amini et al. proved to increase the recovery. However, in CO2 Huff-n-Puff
in their study that carbon dioxide injection increases operations, CO2 is injected directly into the production
condensate recovery significantly due to the fact that well and then the well is shut-in to let the CO2 interact
it removes the condensate blockage and prevents the with the reservoir fluid and condensate for a certain period
condensate accumulation for a certain time after the of time[13]. The gas is then produced from the same well as
injection is stopped[11]. Nitrogen is a good consideration illustrated in Figure 4.
since it is a cheap, non-corrosive, and clean gas. However,
there are some issues related to the use of nitrogen. Even
though nitrogen injection increases condensate recovery,
it is not as effective as carbon dioxide, methane injection,
and gas cycling. Siregar et al. did an experiment to point
out that methane evaporates the liquid with less amount
of injection (55% mole fraction) than nitrogen (98%)[12].
Their study also shows that injected nitrogen can mix with
gas condensate in the reservoir, and the dew point pressure Figure 4
of the mixture is higher than the initial dew point pressure CO2 Huff-n-Puff Process Description (Revised From
of the reservoir. As a result, condensate drop-out increases Odi, 2012)
in the reservoir. According to the study of Amini et al., A study by Odi showed that CO 2 forms a mixture
carbon dioxide is very effective in gas recovery[11]. The with the reservoir fluid and results in a lower dew point
performance is almost the same as natural gas. At some pressure in the reservoir[13]. As a result, condensate re-
lower pressure, carbon dioxide injection has an even evaporates and is produced along with the CO2 flowing
higher gas recovery rate compared to natural gas injection. back to the wellbore. The study has showed that as the
However, carbon dioxide is less effective in recovering concentration of CO2 increases, the dew point pressure is
condensate compared to natural gas. Therefore, further reduced as shown in Figure 5. This method is effective
studies of carbon dioxide injection are needed to improve when initiated before maximum liquid dropout is
the efficiency of condensate recovery. reached[14].

3 Copyright Canadian Research & Development Center of Sciences and Cultures

An Overview of Methods to Mitigate Condensate
Banking in Retrograde Gas Reservoirs

Figure 5
Phase Envelope of Typical Wet Gas Composition as Function of CO2 Concentration[13]
However, this method is a short-term stimulation same time, another study conducted by Alzate et al. shows
because after the production begins for a certain period, that Alcohol 21-NE-06 and inhibited diesel are effective
the condensate blockage returns due the higher dew in removing condensate banking and increasing the gas
point pressure of the current gas mixture. The method is effective permeability[18].
only effective when condensate forms near the wellbore
region. If the condensate forms deep inside the reservoir,
this method is not as effective because its effective 4. INTERFACIAL TENSION REDUCTION
radius is very short. An advantage of this method is that Another method to mobilize condensate blockage is to
a smaller amount of injected CO2 is used compared to a reduce capillary pressure which causes condensate to be
full CO2 injection. trapped inside the reservoir. According to Al-Anazi et
al., capillary pressure can be reduced by decreasing the
interfacial tension[19]. Solvents like alcohol can be used
3. WETTABILITY ALTERATION to reduce the interfacial tension and remove condensate
When condensate blockage forms near the wellbore, the through a multi-contact miscible displacement[20]. Several
condensate in this region is immobile. If the condensate is cases of successful alcohol-based treatments in the field
mobilized, it will flow with the gas phase in the reservoir have been reported to be successful. After the first four
towards the wellbore; hence, the gas relative permeability months of methanol treatment, the productivity of Hatters
increases and the productivity is improved. In order to Pond field increased by a factor 2[20]. In the Cupiagua
achieve this result, a surfactant can be used to change the field, inhibited diesel and Alcohol blends were the main
wettability of the reservoir from liquid wet to intermediate stimulation treatments to mitigate condensate banking for
or gas wet. This method is known as wettability alteration. several years. However, this method can only temporarily
Li and Firoozabidi were successful in using chemical mitigate the condensate, and after a short period of the
solutions FC759 and FC722 to change the wettability treatment, condensate starts accumulating again inside the
of a rock sample[15]. A later study of Fahes et al. showed reservoir[21].
that these chemical solutions are not effective at a high
temperature in the reservoir [16]. Also, these chemical
solutions are expensive, so it is not a feasible method 5. HYDRAULIC FRACTURING
in the industry. Therefore, Liu et al. studied various According to Ignatyev et al., hydraulic fracturing is
solvents to find one that is economical and stable at a very effective in mitigating the effect of condensate
high temperate of the reservoir [17]. They found WA12 blockage because it increases the well contact area with
as a potential solution for condensate blockage. It is the reservoir and decreases reservoir drawdown [22].
thermally stable at 170 oC and 20 times cheaper than the However, Fan et al. pointed out that this method does
chemical solutions that Li and Firoozabidi used. At the not eliminate the accumulation of condensate in areas

Copyright Canadian Research & Development Center of Sciences and Cultures 4

 Mahmood Amani; Nguyen T. Nguyen (2015).
Advances in Petroleum Exploration and Development, 9 (2), 1-6

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