THM coupled analysis of cement sheath integrity considering well

he cement sheath is the heart of any oil or gas well for providing zonal isolation and well integrity during the life of a well.Loads induced by well construction operations and borehole pressure and temperature changes may lead to the ultimate failure of cement sheath.This paper quantifies the potential of cement failure under mechanically and thermally induced stress during the life-of-well using a coupled thermalehydrologicalemechanical(THM)modeling approach.A staged finite-element procedure is presented considering sequential stress and displacement development during each stage of the well life,including drilling,casing,cementing,completion,production,and injection.The staged model quantifies the stress states and state variables,e.g.,plastic strain,damage,and debonding at cement/rock or cement/casing interface,in each well stage from simultaneous action of in-situ stress,pore pressure,temperature,casing pressure,and cement hardening/shrinkage.Thus,it eliminates the need to guess the initial stress and strain state before modeling a specific stage.Moreover,coupled THM capabilities of the model ensure the full consideration of the interaction between these influential factors.

A comprehensive review of ultralow‑weight proppant technology

Proppant plays a critical role in the exploitation of oil and gas,especially in the development of nonconventional oil and gas resources.Proppants are small spheres that have adequate strength to withstand high closure stresses to keep cracks open;therefore,hydrocarbon fows smoothly into the wellbore.However,traditional proppants are prone to settling in hydraulic fracturing operations,which seriously afects the operation efect.To this end,ultralow-weight proppants have been extensively employed in the petroleum industry.One of the widespread forms of ultralow-weight proppant application in the oil and gas industry is related to light density.Ultralow-weight proppants will provide substantial fow paths with a considerably high propped surface area and remarkably reduce fne generation and scaling.This paper presents a comprehensive review of over 50 papers published in the past several decades on ultralow-weight proppants.The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of the current ultralow-weight proppant development status in raw materials,manufacturing process,performance characteristics,hydrophobic and lipophilic capabilities,and feld application to promote the research of new ultralow-weight proppants.Lastly,this study analyzes the current challenges and emphasizes the development direction of fractured proppants.

Investigating microscopic seepage characteristics and fracture effectiveness of tight sandstones:a digital core approach

Microscopic seepage characteristics are critical for the evaluation of tight sandstone reservoirs.In this study,a digital core approach integrating microscopic seepage simulation and CT scanning was developed to characterize microscopic seepage and fracture effectiveness(the ratio of micro-fractures that contributes to fluid flow)of tight sandstones.Numerical simulations were carried out for characterizations of tight sandstones.The results show that the axial permeability of the investigated cylindrical tight sandstone from Junggar Basin in China is 0.460μm~2,while the radial permeability is 0.3723μm~2,and the axial and radial effective fracture ratios are 0.4387 and 0.4806,respectively,indicating that cracks are not fully developed and the connectivity between micro-cracks is poor.Directional permeability that is difficult to measure by laboratory experiments can be obtained readily using the proposed method in this paper.The results provide important information for improving the exploration and development of tight sandstone reservoirs.

Damage of reservoir rock induced by CO_(2) injection

The study of reservoir rock damage induced by gas injection is of great significance to the design of reservoir stimulation and the improvement of oil and gas recovery. Based on an example horizontal well in the Hudson Oilfield of the Tarim Basin and considering the multi-physics coupling effects among highpressure fluid, rock deformation, and damage propagation during CO_(2) injection, a three-dimensional finite element model for CO_(2) injection in deep reservoir considering seepage-stress-damage coupling was developed. The evolution of reservoir rock damage under different CO_(2) injection conditions was systematically investigated. The results show that tensile damage and shear damage are concentrated in the vertical direction and the horizontal maximum compressive principal stress direction, respectively,and the tensile damage is the main damage mode. At higher CO_(2) injection rate and pressure, the damaged areas near the wellbore are mainly distributed in the direction of the maximum compressive principal stress, and the development of the damaged area near the wellbore will be inhibited by the formation and evolution of far-field damage. CO_(2) injection aggravates the extension of tensile damage,but inhibits the initiation of shear damage, and eventually leads to the gradual transition from shear damage to tensile damage. Under the same injection conditions, CO_(2) injection has superior performance in creating rock damage compared with the injection of nitrogen and water. The results in this study provide guidance for enhanced oil recovery in deep oil and gas reservoirs with CO_(2) injection.