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Oil smearing

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Oil smearing in a petroleum reservoir occurs when oil migrates to the gas-cap, and is trapped and lost in it.  

It usually occurs during gas well production or gas-cap blowdown, when the pressure drawdown is higher than gravitational force, and the oil is sucked into the gas-cap.

It can also occur if an oil field is depleted by a nearby field via its gas cap, causing the oil rim to be sucked into the gas-cap.

Because it leads to oil production and reserves losses, gas-cap blowdown projects are delayed until after commercial oil recovery is completed.