Experimental Study and Mechanism Analysis of the Effect of Oil Viscosity and Asphaltene on Foamy Oil

Foamy oil is considered an important reason for the anomalous performance in depletion development for some heavy oil reservoirs, but its influence factors remain to be fully investigated. In order to determine the effect of oil viscosity and asphaltene on foamy oil, ten oil samples including two types (deasphalted oil and asphaltenic oil) and five viscosities were used in the work. On this basis, depletion experiments were conducted in a sandpack and microscopic visualization model. Then, viscoelastic moduli of the oil–gas interface were measured to analyze the mechanisms of viscosity and asphaltene of foamy oil from the perspective of interfacial viscoelasticity. Results show that, with the decrease of the oil viscosity, the foamy oil performance in depletion development worsened, including a rapider decline in average pressure, earlier appearance of gas channeling, shorter period of foamy oil, and lower contribution of foamy oil to recovery. Asphaltene had an influence on foamy oil only in the viscosity range between 870 mPa∙s and 2270 mPa∙s for this study. The effect of viscosity and asphaltene on foamy oil can be explained by the viscoelasticity of bubble film. With the increase of oil viscosity, the interfacial viscous modulus increases significantly, indicating the bubble film becomes stronger and more rigid. Asphaltene, like armor on the bubble film, can improve the viscoelastic modulus, especially at lower viscosity. This can inhibit the coalescence of micro-bubbles and increase the possibility of splitting. This work identifies the effects of oil viscosity and asphaltene on foamy oil systematically and provides theoretical support for foamy oil production.