VAPEX and related processes for the recovery of heavy oil and bitumen have potential application to oils containing some methane in solution. A set of experiments has been completed to evaluate the potential for thermal VAPEX operations in heavy oils containing significant dissolved methane content. Three experiments were run to evaluate a VAPEX process operating in a reservoir in which the oil had significant initial methane saturation. The first experiment tested a 3-component mixture (C-1-C-2-C-3) that was used in an earlier non-thermal dead oil VAPEX,test. The second experiment used horizontally offset wells and 100% ethane as the working solvent. The production well was heated to reflux. the solvent in situ. The third experiment also used horizon tally offset wells and 100% ethane, plus steam. The. steam was injected into the production well to reflux, the solvent. Results indicated that the live oil inhibited solvent absorption, and hence production. rates, but that a properly designed sol-vent system could produce oil at reasonable rates. Oil production from the steam-heated well/ethane experiment was similar to that from the electrically heated well/ethane reflux experiment. The experiments provided a database which can be used for econornic comparison of process options, and for developing numerical simulations for field predictions.