The flocculation and deposition of asphaltenes in porous media and their interactions with rock and fluids represent complex phenomena which need to be investigated under dynamic flowing conditions. In this paper, experimental results are provided to determine the effect of asphaltene deposition on the dynamic displacements of heavy oil by water in consolidated as well as unconsolidated porous media. Dynamic method was used for in-situ asphaltene precipitation in the porous media.Several dynamic displacement experiments were conducted to understand the displacement of heavy oil by water at various degrees of asphaltene deposition.The results show that., while the increase in asphaltene deposition increased pore plugging and reduced the absolute permeability of the porous media, it also improved the displacement performance and oil recovery by water flooding. It is believed that the improvement in displacement performance may be partly due to improvement in the relative oil permeability caused by end point saturation and wettability changes and partly also due to the flow diversion effect of asphaltene deposition.

The flocculation and deposition of asphaltenes in porous media and their interactions with rock and fluids represent complex phenomena which need to be investigated under dynamic flowing conditions. In this paper, experimental results are provided to determine the effect of asphaltene deposition on the dynamic displacements of heavy oil by water in consolidated as well as unconsolidated porous media. Dynamic method was used for in-situ asphaltene precipitation in the porous media.Several dynamic displacement experiments were conducted to understand the displacement of heavy oil by water at various degrees of asphaltene deposition.The results show that., while the increase in asphaltene deposition increased pore plugging and reduced the absolute permeability of the porous media, it also improved the displacement performance and oil recovery by water flooding. It is believed that the improvement in displacement performance may be partly due to improvement in the relative oil permeability caused by end point saturation and wettability changes and partly also due to the flow diversion effect of asphaltene deposition.