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Pipeline Lubrication of Heavy Oil:

Experimental Investigation of Flow and
Restart Problems

Article in SPE production & operations · February 2007

DOI: 10.2118/97764-PA

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 Pipeline Lubrication of Heavy Oil:
Experimental Investigation of Flow and
Restart Problems
Y. Peysson, Inst. Français du Pétrole; A. Bensakhria and G. Antonini, U. de Technologie de Compiègne; and
J.F. Argillier, Inst. Français du Pétrole
Summary
Heavy oils represent a large quantity of hydrocarbon resources.
Unfortunately, their high viscosities make it difficult to produce
and transport them. Different industrial solutions have been devel-
oped to transport this specific type of oil in pipelines. The most
spread-out way is to blend the crude oil with a light hydrocarbon
to decrease the viscosity. In this study, we investigate a technique
based on two-phase flow: pipeline lubrication. A thin water film is
injected around the internal oil core, which leads to the core-/
annular-flow (CAF) regime. Water lubricates the heavy oil, and
the longitudinal pressure gradient is then largely reduced.
We experimentally investigated the flow, the stop and restart of
a viscous heavy oil with coinjection of water or brine as the lu-
bricant fluid. The tests were conducted in steady laminar flow at
moderate flow rates. The results show a pressure-drop reduction of
more than 90% compared with the same product without lubrica-
tion. These results confirm the effectiveness of the lubricating
process for heavy-oil transport.
We also measured restart pressure with different salts in the
water phase, and we show that in some cases, the restart pressure
can be limited.
Introduction
Oil flow as a single phase in a pipeline is a spread-out way of
transporting hydrocarbon resources for very long distances. The
relatively low viscosity of conventional crude oil is a key issue for
such a way of transport because of low resistance to flow. For
higher viscosity, the pipe diameter can be increased or, eventually,
the mean flow velocity can be decreased. But for very high vis-
cosity, large pipe and small velocity lead to a noneconomical
transport technique.
Multiphase flow is also widely used now because it allows the
mixing of gas, water, and oil together in a single pipe. However,
flowing conditions are more difficult to predict because the phase
configurations vary. CAF is one particular two-phase-flow regime
in which the oil phase is in the center of the pipe and water is
flowing near the wall surface. A very interesting characteristic of
this flow is that it is stable for an acceptable range of velocities.
The pressure drop is also very small, with only a weak dependence
on the oil viscosity. Moreover, it is well suited for heavy oils.
Indeed, in this case, densities are close to the water, so stratifica-
tion of the phases is limited. Moreover, high viscosities slow down
the core deformation and limit any modification of the flow regime.
Properties of CAF have been observed for a long time, and
industrial interest was first noticed approximately 100 years ago. A
1904 patent of Isaacs and Speed (Isaacs and Speed 1904) in the U.S.
first mentioned the ability to transport viscous products through
“water lubrication.” Despite this early concern, large-scale industrial
pipelines for heavy oil are scarce; the first one was built only in the
1970s. The Shell line near Bakersfield, California, was 38 km long
Copyright © 2007 Society of Petroleum Engineers
This paper (SPE 97764) was first presented at the 2005 SPE International Thermal Op-
erations and Heavy Oil Symposium, Calgary, 1–3 November, and revised for publication.
Original manuscript received for review 29 August 2005. Revised manuscript received 26
May 2006. Paper peer approved 1 June 2006.
February 2007 SPE Production & Operations
with a tube diameter of 15 cm. For more than 10 years, a viscous
crude oil has been produced in a water-lubricated flow regime.
Since then, several studies have been dedicated to the CAF
regime, and different reviews of the published work have been
written in Oliemans and Ooms (1986) and Joseph et al. (1997). It
has been shown experimentally and theoretically that this particu-
lar flow regime is stable for a specific range of velocity (Joseph
et al. 1997) and produces a very small pressure drop. Below a
certain velocity limit, the capillary instability breaks the inner core
into slugs, and at rest, stratification occurs in the system. So
it is necessary to reach a certain flow rate to transport oil in the
CAF regime. The different flow configurations of oil and water
have been investigated, and flow charts are available (Joseph and
Renardy 1993).
From an industrial point of view, a pipeline can be used in the
CAF regime by using a coinjection of oil and water in the velocity
range of stability. However, when the flow stops in the line, the
CAF regime cannot be maintained. The two phases evolve to
stratified flow, and the pressure drop in that configuration is very
high compared to the CAF. Then, the stop and restart mechanisms
have to be addressed. In this paper, we study experimentally the
restart pressure necessary to flow a CAF line. Specifically, we
show that with modification of the lubricating-layer nature, we can
decrease the restart pressure significantly.
First, the experimental setup is described, and then the pres-
sure-drop measurement of the water and heavy oil is presented.
Then stop and restart experiments with modification of the nature
of the lubricating layer are analyzed.
Experimental Setup
The installation used to perform the experiments is shown in
Fig. 1. The setup consists of a flow loop with a tank for oil storage,
a 12-m (total length) stainless-steel pipe with a 25-mm internal
diameter, a fluid injector specifically designed for pipe-wall lubri-
cation, and a data-acquisition system.
The heavy oil, stored in a tank with a 450-L capacity, is trans-
ferred with a screw-type positive-displacement pump to the center
of the injector (Fig. 2), located at the inlet of the pipe. The flow
rate is varied and controlled by the rotation speed of the pump.
Water (fluid of lubrication) is drawn from a 50-L stainless-steel
supply tank and pumped into the annulus of the injector with a
volumetric pump, ensuring the internal-pipe-wall lubrication. The
ratio between the water-flow rate and the oil-flow rate is kept
constant during the experiment.
Pressure drop within the pipeline is measured across a test
section, equipped with two 6-m-long pressure sensors. A data-
acquisition system coupled to a computer allows recovery of the
pressure-sensor signal and control of the pressure evolution across
the test section in real time.
During the tests and to observe the behavior and the efficiency
of the lubrication process along the conduit, the variation of the
pressure drop of the heavy oil with and without lubrication is
followed and recorded in real time.
Fluid Characterization. For this study, a 16°API Venezuelan
heavy crude oil of moderate viscosity (4.75 Pa·s at 19°C) was used.
The choice of the oil is based on two limits. First, we want a high
viscosity so that CAF is possible, but we also need to limit the
135
 Fig. 1—Experimental flow-loop diagram.
viscosity to be able to measure the pressure drop of the oil as a
single phase in our experimental setup. This crude oil is quite
convenient for experimental studies because its viscosity is in our
expected range. It should be emphasized that crude oil with a lower
density range (less than 16°API) would be more efficient for the
CAF regime. A higher density and viscosity are favorable for the
stability of CAF.
The rheological characterization of the oil was determined with
the rotary viscometer Rheometrics RFS II.*
The crude oil presents a Newtonian behavior as confirmed by
rheometric and loop measurement. Fig. 3 shows the evolution of the
shear stress vs. shear rate in a Couette viscometer and in the flow loop
when pressure drop and mean velocity are normalized as follows:
D ⌬P
␶= . : shear stress 共Pa兲 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1)
4 L
.
and ␥ = 冉 冊冉 冊
32Q
=
8V
: shear rate 共s−1兲, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2)
␲D3 D ⌬P
where ⌬P/L= linear pressure loss (Pa/m), D⳱diameter of the con-
duit (m), Q⳱total volumetric flow rate (m3/s), and V⳱flow ve-
locity (m/s).
Water is used as the fluid of lubrication. The density is 1000
kg/m3, and the viscosity is 10−3 Pa·s.
Experimental Results
Pressure-Drop Reduction. The experimental procedure consists
in the measurement, in real time, of the pressure drop of the heavy-
oil flow alone and the effect of the water addition that yields a
lubricated flow.
* Mark of Reologica Instruments Inc., Bordentown, New Jersey.
Fig. 3—Comparison between the results obtained from the flow
loop and those given by the rotary viscometer (Rheometrics
RFS II).
136
Fig. 2—Sketch of lubrication injector.
An example of data acquisition is given in Fig. 4 and shows the
influence of the injection of water as a lubricant during the trans-
port of the heavy oil. The first plateau corresponds to the pumping
pressure resulting from heavy-oil flow before injection of water in
the pipe (9 bar). Approximately 150 seconds after the beginning of
the test, the lubrication fluid is injected. A rapid decreasing of the
pumping pressure is observed and stabilized at approximately 0.2
bar after 200 seconds. The flow is then lubricated along the entire
pipe, which is a characteristic of the CAF regime. The injection of
the lubrication fluid is stopped after 430 seconds from the begin-
ning of the tests. Then, the pumping pressure increased and
reached its initial value of 9 bar.
To evaluate the lubrication efficiency, we introduce the pres-
sure-drop reduction ⌬P* (%), calculated according to the follow-
ing relations:
冉 冊 冉 冊
⌬P ⌬P
L
−
L
冉 冊
1 2
⌬P* = × 100, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3)
L 1
冉 冊
⌬P
where is the pressure drop of the oil without lubrica-
冉 冊
L 1
⌬P
tion (bar/m) and is the pressure drop of the lubricated
L 2
flow (bar/m).
The evolution of the pressure-drop reduction ⌬P* is measured
for two oil-flow rates and two water-/oil-flow-rate ratios and rep-
resented in Fig. 5.
The results obtained from the tests realized on the oil lubrica-
tion with water, using oil flow rates ranging from 220 to 450 L/h and
two water-/oil-flow-rate ratios of 4 and 6%, showed a pressure-drop
reduction larger than 80% and up to 98% in the best case.
We notice that the flow loop used for these tests presents two
vertical sections and four bends, but despite these irregularities, the
CAF remains stable during the total experiment duration. So, the
Fig. 4—Evolution of the injection pressure with time for an oil-
flow rate of 460 L/h and a water-/oil-flow-rate ratio of 4%.
February 2007 SPE Production & Operations
 Fig. 6—Evolution of the pressure-drop reduction at differ-
Fig. 5—Pressure-drop reduction in the loop with two water-/oil- ent temperatures.
flow-rate ratios. Straight line is a 98% reduction.

flow regime has been confirmed. However, the restart pumping

effectiveness of CAF is clearly confirmed, and the potential for
pressure of the lubricated flow, after stopping the flow, can be
transportation of heavy oil seems very important.
quite high if the gravity force has enough time to stratify the system.
From these results, one also can observe that the pressure- drop
In the last part of this study, we present the results related to
reduction is higher for larger oil velocities. Indeed, the lubrication
sequences of stop and startup of different durations of the lubri-
forces are increased with the increase of velocity. One also can
cated flow, using pure water. Then, different salts are added to the
observe that the pressure-drop reduction is sensitive to the water-/
water to investigate their effect on the restart pressure.
oil-flow-rate ratio at low velocities, but this influence is weak for
larger velocities.
CAF Stop and Startup—Water. Pressure drop in the pipe is
Pressure-drop calculations have been investigated by many au-
recorded continuously during the stop and startup sequences. First,
thors (Arney et al. 1993; Huang et al. 1994), as well as with this flow
heavy oil is injected as a single phase. High pressure drop is
loop. More details on pressure-drop evaluation and the influence of
observed, and with the addition of water, a rapid decrease of the
oil- and water-flow rate are detailed in Bensakhria et al. (2004).
pressure drop is measured. After some time, stops of different
durations are imposed. Water and heavy-oil pumps are stopped and
Temperature Influence. Heavy-oil viscosity is very sensitive to
restarted at the same time so that we keep injected water and oil in
temperature. In all the experiments, the temperature of the setup
annular configuration.
was carefully controlled. To evaluate the temperature influence on
The durations of stop tested are 10, 20, 30, and 60 seconds. We
the pressure-drop reduction, several tests were performed for three
investigated short time scale because we tried to analyze the evo-
different temperatures. The variation of the pressure-drop reduc-
lution of the flow configuration just after the flow stop. Indeed,
tion vs. the oil-flow rates for each tested temperature is presented
when the flow stops, the oil core can flow up in the pipe (due to
in Fig. 6.
gravity force) very rapidly because of the weak viscosity of the water.
From these results, one can observe, especially for the lower
As presented in Fig. 7, the restart pressure drops are lower than
oil-flow rates, a decrease in the lubrication efficiency with the
the pressure drop obtained with the oil as a single phase, but much
temperature increase. However, with the increase of flow rate, the
higher than the pressure drop in the steady-state CAF regime. We
rate of reduction for each temperature reaches approximately the
can also observe that for a short time stop (10 seconds), the restart
same plateau. The effect of temperature simply reflects the de-
pressure is lower than for a longer duration.
crease of the viscosity of the heavy oil. Then, a lower pressure
The maximum restart pressure is recorded and normalized with
drop of the oil without lubrication is measured, and so an effect on
the initial oil-flow pressure. We then get a restart relative pressure
⌬P* is seen.
and measure its variation for different durations of stop and for the
Stop and Restart Studies different oil-flow rates (Fig. 8). The ratio between water and oil
flow rates is fixed at 6%.
Water annular lubrication allows transporting heavy crude oil at When the flow stops, the water and oil immediately start to
astonishingly low pressure drops. In the first part of this study, a stratify. The oil core, with a density of 950 kg/m3, goes up, and the
large decrease in the pressure-drop characteristic of the lubricated

Fig. 7—Pressure drop with time in the stop-and-restart experi-

ment. Times of stop are, respectively, 10, 20, 30, and 60 seconds. Fig. 8—Variation of the restart pressure with the duration of stop.

February 2007 SPE Production & Operations 137


Fig. 9—Variation of the restart pressure with the duration of
stop for different brines.
water is pushed down. We observe that this effect seems to be
rapid. Indeed, with only 10 seconds of stop, the restart pressure is
half the initial pressure. The oil wets the upper wall and must be
sheared to start the flow. At low oil-flow rate, whatever the stop
duration, the restart pressure is high and close to the initial pressure.
For larger flow rates, the situation is different; the velocity is
enough to produce a good lubrication process, so that a proper core
of oil is developed in the system. At stop, the oil core flows up and
reaches the upper wall. To restart, a high pressure is needed to
shear the oil at the wall. The deformation of the viscous core,
which tends to stratify the flow, is very slow compared to the
upflow of the oil core in the water.
CAF With Water. From the experimental results obtained with
pure water, we showed that the CAF regime leads to very low
pressure drop at steady-state conditions, and the efficiency of the
lubrication process is increased with higher velocities. The experi-
ments also showed that a relatively low quantity of water is enough
to create a CAF in good and stable conditions.
After shutdown of the flow, we observed that only half the
pressure required for oil as a single phase is needed to restart the
flow in the best conditions (for the larger flow rate). This is very
encouraging for industrial development but must be improved.
In the last part of this paper, we will show that with the addition
of compounds to the water phase, we can decrease the restart
pressure significantly.
CAF Stop and Restart—Water With Specific Salt. In this sec-
tion, we try to modify the hydrodynamics of the two phases when
stratifying by introducing additives in the water phase. Using dif-
ferent salts at different concentrations in the water phase, we ex-
pect a modification of the wettability of the oil and water phases
Fig. 11—Evolution of the restart pressure for different
Na2CO3 concentrations.
138
Fig. 10—Stop-and-restart experiment with sodium carbonate in
the water. Oil-flow rate=369 L/h, Qw /Qo=6%.
with the pipe surface. We show that we then can largely decrease
the restart pressure.
Three different salts were used with water: magnesium sulfate
(MgSO4), sodium carbonate (Na2CO3), and sodium chlorate
(NaCl). We first test a high concentration of 100 g/L for the two
first salts and 30 g/L for the last one. The oil-flow rate was fixed
at 460 L/h and the ratio between water and oil flow rates at 6%.
The experimental procedure is the same as with pure water.
Heavy oil is first pumped in the system; then, water is coinjected,
CAF is reached, and stop-and-restart sequences are imposed.
The results obtained from these tests are presented in Fig. 9 and
show that the restart pressure can be reduced significantly with the
use of salt in the water phase, compared to the lubrication with
pure water. We can see also that the best result is obtained with the
use of Na2CO3.
This is very clear in the sequence that is shown in Fig. 10. On
the time scale of the entire experiment, we observe no restart pressure.
On the basis of these last results, we investigated the variation
of the restart relative pressure with the quantity of Na2CO3.
Quantity of Sodium Carbonate. A series of tests was performed
with the oil-flow rate at 460 L/h and the ratio between water and
oil flow rates at 6%. The concentration of Na2CO3 was changed,
and the restart pressure was recorded for different stop durations.
We also investigated a much longer duration of stop: 600 seconds.
From the results obtained and presented in Fig. 11, one can
observe a rapid decrease of the restart pressure drop with the
increase of Na2CO3 concentration. At a salt concentration of 50
g/L, we obtain the same reduction that we get with 100 g/L. The
effect is still pronounced for a long-duration stop time, and the
restart pressure can decrease by almost a factor of 2.
Minimizing Water Quantities. We investigated also the effect of
the water-/oil-flow-rate ratio in the restart relative pressure with
sodium carbonate in the water phase at 50 g/L.
The results obtained are displayed in Fig. 12 and show the
restart pressure drop for three values of the ratio between water-
flow rate and oil-flow rate. From these results, one can observe
that the increase of water quantity enhances the reduction of pres-
sure, but the effect is limited.
Interpretation
We try in this section to give some insight concerning the different
mechanisms that have been observed experimentally.
CAF Hydrodynamics. The configuration of the flow in a core-
flow regime at steady-state conditions has been investigated in the
literature both theoretically and experimentally, and we can deduce
the geometry of the flow. The oil is centered in the tube in a sort
of liquid plug of irregular shape. It has been shown that asymmet-
ric waves are necessary at the oil/water interface to prove suffi-
cient lubrication force to compensate for Archimedes force when
densities between oil and water are different. The amplitude of
these waves is relatively small compared to the oil-core diameter.
February 2007 SPE Production & Operations

Fig. 12—Relative restart pressure for different values of the
water-/oil-flow-rate ratio.
We can then consider that when flowing, the spatial organization
of the phases is as shown in Schematic 1 of Fig. 13.
Because of the density difference (brine has specific gravity of
slightly more than 1, and the heavy crude oil is 0.95), the oil core
is not centered in the pipe. This effect can increase the pressure
drop while flowing in comparison of a perfect CAF (Arney et al.
1993). The higher the velocity, the more centered the oil core
because of the increase in efficiency of the lubrication forces.
When the flow is stopped, two different mechanisms take place
in the system. The first one is the upper flow of the entire oil core
in the water, and the second is the deformation of the oil core. The
gravity force drives both mechanisms. However, because of the
large difference in water and oil viscosities (␮o /␮w≈5000), the
time scale of these two mechanisms is very different.
When the flow stops, the oil core can be considered as a solid
plug that goes up rapidly. The time scale of this effect is the
lubrication time scale of the water film at the top of the pipe. Then,
we get Schematic 2 in Fig. 13.
In the different experimental results obtained in this study, we
observed that for every 10 seconds of stop, the restart pressure is
significantly lower than for the larger durations. For these dura-
tions, the evolution of the restart pressure is much less pronounced.
We surmise that the time scale to evacuate the top layer of water is on
the order of 10 seconds in our system. Then the oil core deforms.
We do not believe that the use of brine in our system changes
this first part of the stop mechanism significantly. It increases the
upper velocity of the core slightly because of the increase in the
lubricating-fluid density. However, in the second part, by changing
the wettability of the lubricating layer with the pipe surface and the
oil, we can modify the flow significantly when the oil deforms. In-
deed, as shown in Fig. 14, we can have longer water film at the pipe
surface, depending on the wettability at the surface. Different angles
of wettability lead to different configurations of the water layer.
Fig. 14—Schematic of the flow for two different wettabilities
(large and small) and the same amount of water.
February 2007 SPE Production & Operations
Fig. 13—Schematic of the flow and the flow stop.
So, when the flow is restarted, the wall is partially lubricated,
and this surface can be different with the different brine used.
However, we surmise that for very long durations of stop, the
gravity force tends to separate oil and water completely, and pure
stratified flow is obtained. Then, the restart pressure should be a
function only of the amount of water. In the experiment, the restart
pressure is significantly larger at 600 seconds than it is for the
smaller stop durations.
Conclusions
In this study, experimental work has shown that heavy-oil flow in
pipe can be accomplished with very low pressure drop by coin-
jected water in an annular configuration. Pressure-drop reductions
have been measured for different values of the water-/oil-flow-rate
ratio. We show that 98% of pressure-drop reduction can be reached
in a lubricated regime compared to the pressure drop of the single-
phase flow of heavy oil. This huge reduction of pressure drop is
very encouraging for very-viscous heavy-oil transport. We then
concentrated on stop and startup problems in the CAF regime,
specifically the limitation of restart pressure after stop periods of
controlled durations.
We show that by adding salt to the water phase, we can stop the
flow for certain durations and restart without large pressure re-
quirements. Different salts were tested, and the restart-pressure
variation was investigated as a function of the amount of salt.
These experimental results show that heavy-oil transport by
CAF can be a very efficient way of transporting oil in pipe for
moderate distances. Indeed, for longer distances, the handling pro-
cesses at the pressure stations must be investigated.
With this technique, stop and startup sequences must be taken
into account in the design of the pipeline because of specific
mechanisms leading to a potential increase of the restart pressure,
but we show that specific solutions can be considered to decrease
the restart pressure significantly.
Nomenclature
D ⳱ diameter of the conduit (m)
Q ⳱ total volumetric flow rate (m3/s)
V ⳱ flow velocity (m/s)
⌬P/L ⳱ linear pressure loss (Pa/m)
References
Arney, M.S., Bai, R., Guevara E., Joseph, D.D., and Lui, K. 1993. Friction
factor and holdup studies for lubricated pipelining—Experiments and
correlations. Intl. J. Multiphase Flow. 19 (6): 1061–1076. DOI: http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/0301-9322(93)90078-9.
Bensakhria, A., Peysson, Y., and Antonini, G. 2004. Experimental study of
the pipeline lubrication for heavy oil transport. Oil & Gas Science and
Technology 59 (5): 523–533.
Huang, A., Christodoulou, C., and Joseph, D.D. 1994. Friction factor and
holdup studies for lubricated pipelining—Laminar and k-␧ modes of
eccentric core flow. Intl. J. Multiphase Flow 20 (3): 481–491. DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0301-9322(94)90022-1.
Isaacs, J.D. and Speed, J.B. 1904. Method of piping fluids. U.S. Patent No.
759374.
Joseph, D.D, Chen, K.P., and Renardy, Y.Y. 1997. Core Annular Flows.
Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech. 29: 65. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/
annurev.fluid.29.1.65.
139
Joseph, D.D. and Renardy, Y.Y. 1993. Fundamentals of Two-Fluid Dy- Y. Peysson is a researcher in the Fluid Mechanics Dept. at the
namics. New York City: Springer-Verlag. Inst. Francais du Pétrole (IFP) in Rueil-Malmaison, France.
Oliemans, R.V.A. and Ooms, G. 1986. Core-annular flow of oil and water through e-mail: yannick.peysson@ifp.fr. His research areas are two-
a pipeline. In Multiphase Science and Technology, 2, ed. G.F. Hewitt. phase flow, solid/liquid mixtures, and complex fluids. Peysson
holds a PhD degree in fluid physics from the U. Pierre et Marie
Prezioki, L., Chen, K., and Joseph, D.D. 1989. Lubricated pipelining:
Curie, Paris. A. Bensakhria is an assistant professor in the
stability of CAF. J. of Fluid Mech. 201: 323–356. DOI: http://
Chemical Engineering Dept. at the U. of Technology of Com-
dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022112089000960. piègne, France. e-mail: Ammar.Bensakhria@utc.fr. His research
areas are complex mixtures transport and thermochemical
transformation processes. Bensakhria holds a PhD degree in
SI Metric Conversion Factors industrial processes engineering from the U. of Technology of
°API 141.5/(131.5+°API) ⳱ g/cm3 Compiègne. G. Antonini is a professor in the Chemical Engi-
bar × 1.0* E+05 ⳱ Pa neering Dept. at the U. of Technology of Compiègne and Di-
rector of the Industrial Processes Engineering Laboratory.
ft × 3.048* E−01 ⳱ m e-mail: Gerard.Antonini@utc.fr. He is a specialist in complex
ft3 × 2.831 685 E−02 ⳱ m3 mixtures formulation, transport, and thermochemical transfor-
°F (°F−32)/1.8 ⳱ °C mations. J.F. Argillier is a heavy-oil exploration and produc-
tion project leader at IFP. e-mail: J-francois.argillier@ifp.fr. He
in. × 2.54* E+00 ⳱ cm
is a specialist in the physico-chemistry of heavy oil and drill-
mile × 1.609 344* E+00 ⳱ km ing fluids. Argillier holds a PhD degree in enhanced oil re-
*Conversion factor is exact. covery by polymer flood from the U. Pierre et Marie Curie,
Paris.

140 February 2007 SPE Production & Operations

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