CO2 Minimum Miscibility Pressure: A Correlation for Impure CO2 Streams and Live Oil Systems

Abstract This paper presents an empirically derived correlation for estimating the minimum pressure required for multicontact miscible (MCM) displacement of live oil systems by pure or impure CO2 streams. Minimum miseibility pressure (MMP) has been correlated with temperature, oil C5+ molecular weight, volatile oil fraction, intermediate oil fraction, and composition of the CO2 stream. The effects of temperature and oil C5+ molecular weight on pure CO2 MMP have been well documented. However, CO2 sources are rarely pure, and solution gas usually is present in reservoir oils. The correlation presented in this paper accounts for the additional effects on MMP caused by the presence of volatile components (methane, C1; and N2) and intermediate components (ethane, C2; propane, C3; butane, C4; hydrogen sulfide, H2S; and CO2) in the reservoir oil. This correlation also is capable of estimating MMP for a contaminated or enriched CO2 stream on the basis of the pure CO2 MMP.