Investigation of pore geometry influence on fluid flow in heterogeneous porous media:A pore-scale study

Brazilian pre-salt reservoirs are renowned for their intricate pore networks and vuggy nature,posing significant challenges in modeling and simulating fluid flow within these carbonate reservoirs.Despite possessing excellent petrophysical properties,such as high porosity and permeability,these reservoirs typically exhibit a notably low recovery factor,sometimes falling below 10%.Previous research has indicated that various enhanced oil recovery(EOR)methods,such as water alternating gas(WAG),can substantially augment the recovery factor in pre-salt reservoirs,resulting in improvements of up to 20%.Nevertheless,the fluid flow mechanism within Brazilian carbonate reservoirs,characterized by complex pore geometry,remains unclear.Our study examines the behavior of fluid flow in a similar heterogeneous porous material,utilizing a plug sample obtained from a vugular segment of a Brazilian stromatolite outcrop,known to share analogies with certain pre-salt reservoirs.We conducted single-phase and multi-phase core flooding experiments,complemented by medical-CT scanning,to generate flow streamlines and evaluate the efficiency of water flooding.Subsequently,micro-CT scanning of the core sample was performed,and two cross-sections from horizontal and vertical plates were constructed.These cross-sections were then employed as geometries in a numerical simulator,enabling us to investigate the impact of pore geometry on fluid flow.Analysis of the pore-scale modeling and experimental data unveiled that the presence of dead-end pores and vugs results in a significant portion of the fluid remaining stagnant within these regions.Consequently,the injected fluid exhibits channeling-like behavior,leading to rapid breakthrough and low areal swept efficiency.Additionally,the numerical simulation results demonstrated that,irrespective of the size of the dead-end regions,the pressure variation within the dead-end vugs and pores is negligible.Despite the stromatolite's favorable petrophysical properties,including relatively high porosity and permeability,as well as the presence of interconnected large vugs,the recovery factor during water flooding remained low due to early breakthrough.These findings align with field data obtained from pre-salt reservoirs,providing an explanation for the observed low recovery factor during water flooding in such reservoirs.

The impact of heterogeneity and pore network characteristics on single and multi-phase fluid propagation in complex porous media:An X-ray computed tomography study

This study investigates the impact of pore network characteristics on fluid flow through complex and heterogeneous porous media,providing insights into the factors affecting fluid propagation in such systems.Specifically,high-resolution or micro X-ray computed tomography(CT)imaging techniques were utilized to examine outcrop stromatolite samples of the Lagoa Salgada,considered flow analogous to the Brazilian Pre-salt carbonate reservoirs.The petrophysical results comprised two distinct stromatolite depositional facies,the columnar and the fine-grained facies.By generating pore network model(PNM),the study quantified the relationship between key features of the porous system,including pore and throat radius,throat length,coordination number,shape factor,and pore volume.The study found that the less dense pore network of the columnar sample is typically characterized by larger pores and wider and longer throats but with a weaker connection of throats to pores.Both facies exhibited less variability in the radius of the pores and throats in comparison to throat length.Additionally,a series of core flooding experiments coupled with medical CT scanning was designed and conducted in the plug samples to assess flow propagation and saturation fields.The study revealed that the heterogeneity and presence of disconnected or dead-end pores significantly impacted the flow patterns and saturation.Two-phase flow patterns and oil saturation distribution reveal a preferential and heterogeneous displacement that mainly swept displaced fluid in some regions of plugs and bypassed it in others.The relation between saturation profiles,porosity profiles,and the number of fluid flow patterns for the samples was evident.Only for the columnar plug sample was the enhancement in recovery factor after shifting to lower salinity water injection(SB)observed.