Scaling Analysis of the Migration of CO2 in Saline Aquifers

Hesse, M. A.; Tchelepi, Hamdi A.; Orr, Franklin M.

doi:10.2118/102796-ms

Cited by 64 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The density difference results in gas override, which leads to poor reservoir sweep by injected fluids. This buoyancy effect has been investigated for CO 2 in aquifers (Hesse et al 2006;Silin et al 2006;Møll Nilsen et al 2011). Injected CO 2 rises to the top of the reservoir until it reaches a low-permeability caprock, where it spreads out as a mobile plume of dense gas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design of Simultaneous Enhanced Oil Recovery and Carbon Dioxide Storage With Potential Application to Offshore Trinidad

2013

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We developed an injection strategy to recover moderately heavy oil and store carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) simultaneously. Our compositional simulations are founded on pressure/volume/temperature-(PVT-) matched properties of oil found in an unconsolidated deltaic sandstone deposit in the Gulf of Paria, offshore Trinidad. In this region, oil density ranges between 940 and 1010 kg/m 3 (9 to 18 API). We use countercurrent injection of gas and water to improve reservoir sweep and trap CO 2 simultaneously; water is injected in the upper portion of the reservoir, and gas is injected in the lower portion. The two water-injection rates investigated, 100 and 200 m 3 /d, correspond to the water-gravity numbers 6.3 to 3.1 for our reservoir properties. We applied this injection strategy using vertical producers with two injection configurations: single vertical injector and a pair of horizontal parallel laterals in a simplified representation of the unconsolidated Forest sand found offshore Trinidad. Twelve simulation runs were conducted, varying injection-gas composition for miscible-and immiscible-gas drives, water-injection rate, and injection-well orientation. Our results show that water-over-gas injection can realize oil recoveries ranging from 17 to 30%. In each instance, more than 50% of injected CO 2 remained in the reservoir, with less than 15% of the retained CO 2 in the mobile phase.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design of Simultaneous Enhanced Oil Recovery and Carbon Dioxide Storage With Potential Application to Offshore Trinidad

2013

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“…Integration over the vertical section is used to obtain vertically averaged (lumped) properties and pseudofunctions. Such models are widely used to describe carbon dioxide sequestration in brine aquifers (Gasda et al 2007;Hesse et al 2006;Ligaarden and Nilsen 2010). Lake (1989) presented a detailed discussion of the different cases of vertical equilibrium.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Modification of the Dykstra-Parsons Method for Inclined Stratified Reservoirs

El-Khatib

2012

SPE Journal

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The Dykstra-Parsons method (Dykstra and Parsons 1950) is used to predict the performance of waterflooding in noncommunicating stratified reservoirs. Much interest has been shown recently in the application of the method to chemical flooding, particularly for the case of polymer injection used for mobility control. The original method assumes that the reservoir layers are horizontal; however, most oil reservoirs exhibit a dip angle, with water being injected in the updip direction. Therefore, it is important to account for the effect of inclination on the performance of the method.A modification of the Dykstra-Parsons equations is obtained to account for reservoir inclination. The developed model includes a dimensionless gravity number that accounts for the effect of the dip angle and the density difference between the displacing and displaced fluids. The derived equation that governs the relative locations of the displacement fronts in different layers is nonlinear, includes a logarithmic term, and requires an iterative numerical solution. This solution is used to estimate the fractional oil recovery, the water cut, the injected pore volume, and the injectivity ratio at the time of water breakthrough in successive layers.Solutions for stratified systems with log-normal permeability distribution were obtained and compared with horizontal systems. The effects of the gravity number, the mobility ratio, and the Dykstra-Parsons permeability-variation coefficient (V DP ) on the performance were investigated. Cases of updip and downdip injection are discussed.It was found that for a positive gravity number (updip water injection), performance is enhanced in terms of delayed water breakthrough, increased fractional oil recovery, and decreased water cut as compared with horizontal layers. This occurs for both favorable and unfavorable mobility ratios but is more evident in unfavorable mobility ratios and more-heterogeneous cases. For the case of a negative gravity number (downdip water injection or updip gas injection), the opposite behavior was observed.The results were also compared with the performance of inclined communicating reservoirs with complete crossflow. The effect of communication between layers was found to improve fractional oil recovery for favorable and unit mobility ratios and decrease recovery for unfavorable mobility ratio.

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“…This process occurs at the trailing edge of the plume as the CO 2 migrates upward, when it is displaced by natural groundwater flow or by the injection of chase brine. It is a rapid and effective trapping mechanism that reduces the need to ensure caprock integrity (Kumar et al 2005;Hesse et al 2006;Obi and Blunt 2006;Juanes et al 2006;Ide et al 2007;Qi et al 2009;Saadatpoor et al 2008). In addition, the process can be designed such that capillary trapping is maximized.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measurement of Nonwetting-Phase Trapping in Sandpacks

et al. 2010

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We measure the trapped nonwetting-phase saturation as a function of initial saturation in sandpacks. The application of the work is for carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) storage in aquifers, where capillary trapping is a rapid and effective mechanism to render the injected fluid immobile: The CO 2 is injected into the formation followed by chase-brine injection or natural groundwater flow that displaces and traps it. Current models to predict the amount of trapping are based on experiments in consolidated media; while CO 2 is likely to be injected at depths greater than approximately 800 m to render it supercritical, it may be injected into formations that tend to have a higher porosity and permeability than deep oilfield rocks. We use analog fluids-water and refined oil-at ambient conditions. The initial conditions are established by injecting oil into vertical or horizontal sandpacks 0.6 m long at different flow rates and then allowing the oil to migrate under gravity. The packs are then flooded with water. The columns are sliced, and the residual saturation is measured with great accuracy and sensitivity by gas chromatography (GC). This method allows low saturations to be measured reliably. The trapped saturation initially rises linearly with initial saturation to a value of approximately 0.13, followed by a constant residual as the initial saturation increases further. This behavior is not predicted by the traditional Land (1968) model but is physically consistent with poorly consolidated media where most of the larger pores can be invaded easily at relatively low saturation and there is, overall, relatively little trapping. The best match to our experimental data is achieved with the Aissaoui (1983) and the Spiteri et al. (2008) trapping models.

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Scaling Analysis of the Migration of CO2 in Saline Aquifers

Cited by 64 publications

References 22 publications

Design of Simultaneous Enhanced Oil Recovery and Carbon Dioxide Storage With Potential Application to Offshore Trinidad

Design of Simultaneous Enhanced Oil Recovery and Carbon Dioxide Storage With Potential Application to Offshore Trinidad

The Modification of the Dykstra-Parsons Method for Inclined Stratified Reservoirs

Measurement of Nonwetting-Phase Trapping in Sandpacks

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