What Reservoir Characterisation is Required for Predicting Waterflood Performance in a High Net-to-Gross Fluvial Environment?

Jones, Alistair; Verly, Georges; K, Williams J

doi:10.1007/978-94-011-0896-6_18

Cited by 34 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Alternations of parallel, continuous layers of different lithologic and physical properties are a ubiquitous type of geologic heterogeneity observed at many different length scales, including lamination (millimeter-thick layers), bedding (centimeter-to meter-thick layers) and laterally extensive genetic and stratigraphic units that may correspond to flow zones in groundwater aquifers and hydrocarbon reservoirs, typically several meters to tens of meters in thickness (e.g., Campbell 1967;Ringrose et al 1993a, b;Jones et al 1994Jones et al , 1995Koltermann and Gorelick 1996;Marsily et al 1998;White and Barton 1999;Li and White 2003;Jackson et al 2003;Deveugle et al 2011). Understanding multiphase flow in layered porous media is therefore important for accurate prediction of many subsurface processes; examples include geologic carbon storage, migration of non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) in contaminated aquifers and hydrocarbon production.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Viscous Crossflow in Layered Porous Media

et al. 2017

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We examine the effect of viscous forces on the displacement of one fluid by a second, immiscible fluid along parallel layers of contrasting porosity, absolute permeability and relative permeability. Flow is characterized using five dimensionless numbers and the dimensionless storage efficiency, so results are directly applicable, regardless of scale, to geologic carbon storage. The storage efficiency is numerically equivalent to the recovery efficiency, applicable to hydrocarbon production. We quantify the shock-front velocities at the leading edge of the displacing phase using asymptotic flow solutions obtained in the limits of no crossflow and equilibrium crossflow. The shock-front velocities can be used to identify a fast layer and a slow layer, although in some cases the shock-front velocities are identical even though the layers have contrasting properties. Three crossflow regimes are identified and defined with respect to the fast and slow shock-front mobility ratios, using both theoretical predictions and confirmation from numerical flow simulations. Previous studies have identified only two crossflow regimes. Contrasts in porosity and relative permeability exert a significant influence on contrasts in the shock-front velocities and on storage efficiency, in addition to previously examined contrasts in absolute permeability. Previous studies concluded that the maximum storage efficiency is obtained for unit permeability ratio; this is true only if there are no contrasts in porosity and relative permeability. The impact of crossflow on storage efficiency depends on the mobility ratio evaluated across the fast shock-front and on the time at which the efficiency is measured.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Viscous Crossflow in Layered Porous Media

et al. 2017

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“…1, none of the coarse-grid lines of the uniform 10 × 4 model (case [1]) coincides with the lens boundary, which makes it a bad model for upscaling. However, it is possible to reduce homogenization error by adjusting grid lines of case [1] (without changing its dimension) in order to align (all or some of) them with lens boundaries. Definitely, case [2] which covers all permeability variation boundaries is a perfect model with no homogenization error.…”

Section: Lens Modelmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…For case (1), since there is no flow in the region, then flow calculations are not necessary by the flow simulator and a coarse grid would suffice. If case (2) exits, then we have a homogeneous region and this area can be coarsened.…”

Section: Application To Irrotational Flowsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These geological models are typically very fine (containing 10 [8] grid blocks or even more) because of significant impact of fine-scale features on reservoir flow performance [1][2][3]. In practice, however, these fine geological models usually cannot be directly input to reservoir simulator due to memory and/or processing time constraints.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Flow in porous media, such as flow occurring in aquifers and hydrocarbon reservoirs, is strongly influenced by property variations that occur on all scales from the pore scale (tens or hundreds of microns) to the field scale (kilometer). Examples of such property variations include heterogeneity of the porous media, e.g., porosity, hydraulic conductivity, or permeability [1][2][3].…”

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confidence: 99%

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Improved upscaling of reservoir flow using combination of dual mesh method and vorticity-based gridding

et al. 2008

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International audienceA novel technique for upscaling of detailed geological reservoir descriptions is presented. The technique aims at reducing both numerical dispersion and homogenization error generated due to incorporating a coarse computational grid and assigning effective permeability to coarse-grid blocks, respectively. In particular, we consider implicit-pressure explicit-saturation scheme where homogenization error impacts the accuracy of the coarse-grid solution of the pressure equation. To reduce the homogenization error, we employ the new vorticity-based gridding that generates a non-uniform coarse grid with high resolution at high vorticity zones. In addition, to control numerical dispersion, we use dual mesh method (DMM) which uses different grids to solve pressure and saturation equations. The coarse grid generated from vorticity is used for computation of pressure, and the reference fine grid is used for updating saturation explicitly. The strongest point of the method is that dual mesh method has been incorporated onto non-uniform grid structure. This combination removes the need to solve the full fine grid for two-phase flow modeling, resulting in a less computationally demanding and more accurate upscaling technique. To evaluate the method, we run two-phase simulation using different 2D test cases. Our results indicate that the non-uniform DMM is more accurate than the uniform DMM due to using vorticity-based grids. The speedup achieved in the computation is significant depending on the complexity of model and degree of upscaling

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Effect of small scale flow barriers heterogeneities and connate water on displacement efficiency of polymer floods to heavy oil reservoirs

et al. 2013

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This work concerns a fundamental understanding of how heterogeneities induced by flow barriers and connate water affect the displacement efficiency of polymer floods, which has rarely been studied in the available literature. Here, a series of water/polymer injection experiments to heavy oil performed on five-spot glass micromodels containing randomly distributed shale structures is presented. It has been found that macroscopic efficiency of polymer flooding majorly depends on flow barriers distribution/configuration; shale content and geometrical characteristics; presence of connate water and wettability of medium. Microscopic pictures revealed that the main parts of connate water were trapped in some pores/throats near and especially behind the shale streaks; also, presence of connate water causes a reduction of sweep efficiency due to premature breakthrough of displacing fluid in an oil-wet media. In absence of connate water, polymer solution could linger and stick to the pore walls to delay the time for a polymer to channel to the production site. Results of this work disclose requirements for a detailed geologic study of barrier size and distribution for successful design of EOR processes in heterogeneous reservoirs.

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What Reservoir Characterisation is Required for Predicting Waterflood Performance in a High Net-to-Gross Fluvial Environment?

Cited by 34 publications

References 4 publications

Viscous Crossflow in Layered Porous Media

Viscous Crossflow in Layered Porous Media

Improved upscaling of reservoir flow using combination of dual mesh method and vorticity-based gridding

Effect of small scale flow barriers heterogeneities and connate water on displacement efficiency of polymer floods to heavy oil reservoirs

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