WAG injection in porous media: A microfluidic analysis

Jafarian, K; Kayhani, M H; Nazari, M; Ghorbanbakhsh, B; Shokri, Nima

doi:10.1016/j.cherd.2023.03.035

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 48 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Studies conducted nationally and internationally have shown that WAG (alternate water and gas injection) flooding is a CO 2 -enhanced oil recovery (EOR) displacement technology, which has been intensively developed in terms of research and application in recent years [1][2][3][4][5]. Compared with water flooding or gas flooding, WAG flooding can rapidly replenish the formation energy and improve the sweep efficiency of injected fluid through the mixing effect of CO 2 and crude oil [6][7][8]. On the other hand, WAG flooding can improve the fluidity of injected fluid, reduce the water cut, and slow gas channeling, which can significantly improve the final development effect of low-permeability reservoirs [9,10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Study of the Dynamic Water–Gas Ratio of Water and Gas Flooding in Low-Permeability Reservoirs

Cao,

Liu,

Feng

et al. 2024

Energies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

WAG flooding is a dynamic process of continuous reservoir flow field reconstruction. The unique advantages of WAG flooding cannot be utilized, due to the fixed water–gas ratio. Therefore, we must investigate the dynamic adjustment of the water–gas ratio for WAG flooding. Using nine cases of long-core displacement experiments in low-permeability reservoirs, the development effects of three different displacement methods, namely, continuous gas flooding, WAG flooding with a fixed water–gas ratio, and WAG flooding with a dynamic water–gas ratio, were investigated after elastic development, water flooding, and gas flooding. This study shows that for early elastic development in low-permeability reservoirs, WAG flooding can significantly improve oil recovery, but WAG flooding with a dynamic water–gas ratio is not conducive to the control of the water cut rise and gas channeling. As a result, it is more suitable to adopt WAG flooding with a fixed water–gas ratio. For early water flooding in low-permeability reservoirs, WAG flooding more clearly improves oil recovery and suppresses gas channeling, but WAG flooding with a dynamic water–gas ratio exhibits a higher oil recovery and thus is recommended. For early gas flooding in low-permeability reservoirs, whether the development effect of WAG flooding can improve oil recovery and inhibit gas channeling strongly depends on whether the water–gas ratio is adjusted. The development effect of WAG flooding with a dynamic water–gas ratio is significantly better than that with a fixed water–gas ratio. Therefore, WAG flooding with a dynamic water–gas ratio is recommended to achieve the best displacement effect. This research has important practical significance for further improving the development effect of WAG flooding in low-permeability reservoirs.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Study of the Dynamic Water–Gas Ratio of Water and Gas Flooding in Low-Permeability Reservoirs

Cao,

Liu,

Feng

et al. 2024

Energies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The principal mechanisms of CO 2 enhanced oil recovery include reduction in crude oil viscosity, crude oil expansion, diminution of interfacial tension, extraction of light hydrocarbons, and both immiscible and miscible displacement [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. However, CO 2 , due to its differing physical properties with reservoir fluids, especially in viscosity, tends to bypass oil in high permeability zones, resulting in diminished sweep efficiency [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research on the Timing of WAG Intervention in Low Permeability Reservoir CO2 Flooding Process to Improve CO2 Performance and Enhance Recovery

Zhao,

Sang,

Ding

et al. 2023

Energies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In low permeability reservoirs, CO2 flooding usually leads to gas channeling, whereby a significant amount of CO2 bypasses the oil-bearing formation and fails to effectively displace oil. Introducing water-alternating-gas (WAG) flooding, utilizing water phase stability-driven processes, serves to suppress gas channeling and enhance oil recovery rates. Implementing WAG flooding, which utilizes water phase stability-driven processes, helps suppress gas channeling and improve oil recovery rates. The timing of implementing WAG flooding is crucial. Initiating WAG flooding prematurely can limit the efficiency of CO2 displacement, while initiating it with delays may result in severe gas channeling, resulting in decreased production and increased environmental risks. Finding the balance point is the challenge. The balance point can effectively control gas channeling without reducing the efficiency of CO2 flooding. In this paper, the timing of WAG flooding in low permeability reservoirs is studied in detail. Firstly, this study conducted experimental research to investigate the CO2 displacement process in both homogeneous and heterogeneous cores. Furthermore, it validated the correlation between the timing of WAG injection and the heterogeneity of the cores. The experimental results indicated the existence of an optimal timing for WAG injection, which is correlated with the degree of heterogeneity. Numerical simulation studies were performed to simulate the characteristics of the light oil–CO2 system using the Peng–Robinson (PR) equation. Furthermore, a history matching analysis was performed to validate the experimental results and investigate the correlation between WAG injection and the degree of heterogeneity. The study concluded that as the degree of heterogeneity increases, initiating WAG injection earlier leads to a more significant suppression of gas channeling, increased water–gas interaction, improved gas–oil contact, and enhanced the synergistic effect of increasing the resistance and pressure of WAG flooding and controlling gas channeling. This finding has significant practical implications, as the optimization of WAG injection timing can enhance oilfield production efficiency.

show abstract

Experimental investigation on the effect of nanoparticles on surfactant flooding performance in resin-based 3D printed porous media

Ghorbanbakhsh,

Jafarian,

Nazari

et al. 2024

Chemical Engineering Research and Design

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

WAG injection in porous media: A microfluidic analysis

Cited by 4 publications

References 48 publications

Experimental Study of the Dynamic Water–Gas Ratio of Water and Gas Flooding in Low-Permeability Reservoirs

Experimental Study of the Dynamic Water–Gas Ratio of Water and Gas Flooding in Low-Permeability Reservoirs

Research on the Timing of WAG Intervention in Low Permeability Reservoir CO2 Flooding Process to Improve CO2 Performance and Enhance Recovery

Experimental investigation on the effect of nanoparticles on surfactant flooding performance in resin-based 3D printed porous media

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About