CO2 Flow Patterns Under Multiphase Flow: Heterogeneous Field-Scale Conditions

Chang, Yiran; Lim, M.T.; Pope, Gary A.; Sepehrnoori, Kamy

doi:10.2118/22654-pa

Cited by 111 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Though derived to represent the coalescence regime, this model also represents the low-quality regime reasonably well, as shown below. Earlier work with this model Rossen and Lu, 1997;Shi and Rossen, 1998a,b) modified the miscible gas-flood simulator UTCOMP (Liu, 1993;Chang et al,1994) for foam, but the algorithms are transferable to any simulator with facility for multiple phases and a tracer or chemical solute that can represent surfactant. Some results presented here use the same algorithms with the chemical-flood simulator UTCHEM (Delshad et al, 1996;de Blanc et al, 1999), which has previously been modified to accommodate a flowing gas phase.…”

Section: Modification Of Foam Model To Fit Two Foam-flow Regimesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of More-Efficient Gas Flooding Applicable to Shallow Reservoirs

Rossen¹,

Johns²,

Pope³

2003

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ABSTRACT:The objective of this research is to widen the applicability of gas flooding to shallow oil reservoirs by reducing the pressure required for miscibility using gas enrichment and increasing sweep efficiency with foam. Task 1 examines the potential for improved oil recovery with enriched gases. Subtask 1.1 examines the effect of dispersion processes on oil recovery and the extent of enrichment needed in the presence of dispersion. Subtask 1.2 develops a fast, efficient method to predict the extent of enrichment needed for crude oils at a given pressure. Task 2 develops improved foam processes to increase sweep efficiency in gas flooding. Subtask 2.1 comprises mechanistic experimental studies of foams with N 2 gas. Subtask 2.2 conducts experiments with CO 2 foam. Subtask 2.3 develops and applies a simulator for foam processes in field application.Regarding Task 1, significant research was accomplished in the last three and one-half years with over 11 journal and conference publications, many of which have been repeatedly referenced by other researchers. All goals, except one, were accomplished for both Task 1.1 and Task 1.2. The remaining goal on the development of accurate CO 2 MMP correlations is near completion and will be published in a future paper. Task 1.1 focused on the effect of dispersive processes on oil recovery and how to enrich gas so that the MMP can be reduced. Simulation studies (Solano et al., 2001; 4 Stalkup, 1990) show that oil recovery for enriched gas drives depends on the amount of dispersion in reservoir media, but the value of dispersion, expressed as dispersivity, at the field scale, is unknown. This research investigated three types of dispersion in permeable media to obtain realistic estimates of dispersive mixing at the field scale. These types are echo dispersivity, which is unaffected by fluid flow direction, transmission dispersivity, which is caused by layering in permeable media, and local dispersivity, which is the mixing observed at a point in the reservoir as tracer flows past.We analyzed a collection of single-well tracer test (SWTT) data to estimate echo dispersivity at the SWTT scale. The estimated echo dispersivities closely match a published trend with length in dispersivities obtained from groundwater tracer tests. This unexpected result-it was thought that transmission dispersivity should be greater than echo dispersivity-is analyzed with numerical simulation. The agreement between the SWTT echo dispersivities and the field trend suggests that the field data are measuring local dispersivities, which are on the order of 2 ft. All dispersivities appear to grow with length.The interaction of phase behavior and flow, in the presence of dispersive mixing, was examined for 1-D four-component and twelve-component enriched-gas displacements. Numerical and analytical solutions demonstrated that oil recovery may be substantially increased by gas enrichment above the minimum enrichment for miscibility (MME). For the twelve-component oil, the increase in recovery (displ...

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Section: Modification Of Foam Model To Fit Two Foam-flow Regimesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of More-Efficient Gas Flooding Applicable to Shallow Reservoirs

Rossen¹,

Johns²,

Pope³

2003

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“…Injected gas favorably channels through the high permeability streaks resulting in non-sweeping of remaining oil in the tighter rocks. In addition, the differences in fluids properties, viscosity and density, result in viscous fingering and gravity override (Chang et al 1994;Rashid et al 2013;Stephenson et al 1993). Chemical methods might exhibit more favorable volumetric sweep due to polymer addition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and evaluation of foam-based conformance control for a high-salinity and high-temperature carbonate

Fuseni

AlSofi

Al-Julaih

et al. 2018

J Petrol Explor Prod Technol

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The extreme heterogeneity of carbonate reservoirs in the form of fracture corridors and super-permeability thief zones present challenges to the efficient sweep of oil in both secondary and tertiary recovery operations. In such reservoirs, conformance control is crucial to ensure injected water and any EOR chemicals optimally contact the remaining oil with minimal throughput. Foam-based conformance control is a relatively new technology especially its use for deep diversion in high-salinity and high-temperature conditions. In this work, a laboratory study was conducted to develop and evaluate a foam-based conformance control technology for application in a high-salinity and high-temperature carbonate. Foaming agents (surfactants) were first screened for their suitability with regard to reservoir temperature and salinity where properties such as foamability and foam stability were measured. The best performing surfactants were then used to study the foam-induced mobility reduction across a core composite. The experiments were conducted at reservoir conditions. Foam stability and decay were also investigated in those permeability reduction experiments. Brine and crude oil were injected after foam formation where observed pressure drops allowed quantification of foam stability and decay; hence, the sustainability of mobility reduction. Finally, the potential improvement in reservoir contact and hence oil recovery were examined by oil displacement experiments conducted in specially prepared heterogeneous composites. For the studied conditions of high salinity and high temperature, foaming agents of the amphoteric family as well as one manufacturer proprietary surfactants blend were found suitable in terms of salt tolerance and foam stability. Using the proprietary blend and without oil in core, the generated foam reduced fluids mobility by a factor of 12. The attained mobility reduction was lower in presence of oil but was still acceptable for flow diversion purposes. Using the proprietary blend and with oil in core, the generated foam reduced fluids mobility by a factor of 6 (compared to 12 without oil in core). Oil recovery improvement with foam placement was also found to be significant. These results demonstrate the potential of foams for carbonates with harsh salinity and temperature conditions.

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“…Solvent flooding is a commonly used technology for enhanced oil recovery in hydrocarbon reservoirs, which aims at developing miscibility, thereby mobilizing the residual oil and enhancing the mobility of the hydrocarbon phase (Stalkup 1983). Despite its high local displacement efficiency, the overall effectiveness of solvent injection may be compromised by viscous fingering, channeling, and gravity override, all of which contribute negatively to sweep efficiency (Christie and Bond 1987;Chang et al 1994;Tchelepi and Orr 1994). The simplest method for controlling this poor mobility ratio is to inject the solvent alternately by water.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pore-Level Investigation of Heavy Oil Recovery During Water Alternating Solvent Injection Process

et al. 2009

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This study concerns with the microscopic and macroscopic fluid distribution and flow behavior during water alternating solvent (WAS) injection process to heavy oil using micromodel generated from thin section of a real rock which has rarely attended in the available literature. In this study, a one-quarter five-spot glass micromodel was deployed to examine the effect of flow media topology on microscopic displacements as well as macroscopic efficiency of WAS process. The micromodel was initially saturated with the heavy oil, and then the hydrocarbon solvent and water were injected alternately into it. The observations confirmed that WAS injection scheme is an effective method for the recovery of the significant amount of residual oil. Using solvent as the leading batch in WAS scheme can really improve the oil recovery by increasing the amount of microscopic sweep efficiency in flow paths, where the molecular diffusion in solvent-heavy oil system occurs. Presence of connate water in WAS scheme can improve the recovery efficiency especially at higher water saturations. Heterogeneity of the medium caused the water to be distributed better in the medium, but the amount of residual oil in the flow area is going to be increased. Small precipitates of asphaltene particles due to solvent injection and localized entrapment of the oil due to heterogeneity effects, water blockage, and deadend pores were observed mainly in this process. The results of this study reveals the pore scale events in WAS injection process and will be helpful for developing reliable simulation models.

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CO2 Flow Patterns Under Multiphase Flow: Heterogeneous Field-Scale Conditions

Cited by 111 publications

References 13 publications

Development of More-Efficient Gas Flooding Applicable to Shallow Reservoirs

Development of More-Efficient Gas Flooding Applicable to Shallow Reservoirs

Development and evaluation of foam-based conformance control for a high-salinity and high-temperature carbonate

Pore-Level Investigation of Heavy Oil Recovery During Water Alternating Solvent Injection Process

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