Abstract
Foamy-oil flow is a non-Darcy form of two-phase flow of gas and oil encountered in many Canadian and Venezuelan heavy-oil reservoirs during production under solution-gas drive. Unlike normal two-phase flow, which requires a fluid phase to become continuous before it can flow, it involves flow of dispersed gas bubbles. This paper is aimed at acquainting the readers with this type of flow and its role in heavy-oil production. The paper starts with a discussion of what the term foamy-oil flow means and how it evolved. Then a brief review of the Canadian field practices is presented. This is followed by a discussion of the pore-scale mechanisms involved and the interplay between capillary and viscous forces. A discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of various mathematical models proposed for numerical simulation of this type of flow is also included. The paper ends with a brief discussion of issues that remain unresolved.
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