Reservoir heterogeneity controls of CO_(2)-EOR and storage potentials in residual oil zones:Insights from numerical simulations

Residual oil zones(ROZs)have large potential for CO_(2)enhanced oil recovery(EOR)and geologic storage.During CO_(2)injection,the migration of CO_(2)in ROZs controls the performance of both EOR and storage.However,it has not been clearly visualized and understood that how geological heterogeneity factors control the transport of CO_(2)in ROZs.In this study,the oil recovery performance and geologic storage potential during continuous CO_(2)injection in a representative ROZ are studied based on geostatistical modelling and high-fidelity three-phase flow simulation.We examined the influence of autocorrelation length of permeability,global heterogeneity(DykstraeParsons coefficient),and permeability anisotropy on cumulative oil recovery and CO_(2)retention fraction.Simulation results indicate that,as the permeability autocorrelation length increases,the cumulative oil recovery and CO_(2)storage efficiency decrease.This results from the accelerated migration of CO_(2)along high permeability zones(i.e.,gas channeling).The increase in global heterogeneity and permeability anisotropies can lead to low oil recovery and poor CO_(2)sequestration performance,depending on the degree of CO_(2)channeling.The net utilization ratio of CO_(2)(CO_(2)retained/oil produced)unfavorably increases with both autocorrelation length and Dykstra eParsons coefficient,but decreases with the increase in kv/kh.Such a decrease is attributed to enlarged swept volume induced by gravity override.The study provides important implications for fieldscale CO_(2)EOR and storage applications in ROZs.

Numerical investigation of fluid phase momentum transfer in carbonate acidizing

This work mainly studies the effect of fluid phase momentum transfer mechanisms on the acidizing results,including the retardation effect of the porous structure and the interaction between the fluid phase,such as viscous dissipation and inertial effect.The results show that the acid fluid momentum transfer is influenced by the complex porous structure and fluid viscous dissipation.Eventually,the Stokes-Darcy equation is recommended to be adopted to describe the fluid phase momentum transfer in the following numerical simulation studies of the carbonate acidizing process.Based on this model,a parametric research is carried out to investigate the impact of acid on rock physical characteristics in the stimulation process.Increasing the acid concentration appears to minimize the quantity of acid consumed for the breakthrough.The acid surface reaction rate has a considerable impact on the pore volume to breakthrough and the optimum acid injection rate.The influence of permeability on the acidizing results basically shows a negative correlation with the injection rate.The difference between the acidizing curves of different permeability gradually becomes insignificant with the decrease in injection rate.The existence of isolated fracture and vug significantly reduces acid consumption for the breakthrough.