An Experimental Study on the Effect of a Nanofluid on Oil-Water Relative Permeability

The low porosity and low permeability of tight oil reservoirs call for improvements in the current technologies for oil recovery.Traditional chemical solutions with large molecular size cannot effectively flow through the nanopores of the reservoir.In this study,the feasibility of Nanofluids has been investigated using a high pressure high temperature core-holder and nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR).The results of the experiments indicate that the specified Nanofluids can enhance the tight oil recovery significantly.The water and oil relative permeability curve shifts to the high water saturation side after Nanofluid flooding,thereby demonstrating an increase in the water wettability of the core.In the Nanofluid flooding process the oil recovery was enhanced by 15.1%,compared to waterflooding stage.The T2 spectra using the NMR show that after Nanofluid flooding,a 7.18%increment in oil recovery factor was gained in the small pores,a 4.9%increase in the middle pores,and a 0.29%increase in the large pores.These results confirm that the Nanofluids can improve the flow state in micro-sized pores inside the core and increase the ultimate oil recovery factor.

Experimental analysis of the pore structure, relative permeability, and water flooding characteristics of the Yan'an Formation sandstone, southwestern Ordos Basin

The oil and gas potential of the Yan'an Formation in the Ordos Basin has yet to be fully tapped. In this study, the pore structure, mobile fluid saturation, and water flooding micro-mechanism of the Yan'an Formation sandstone are systematically studied through the application of a series of rock physics and fluid experiments. The results show that there is a good positive correlation between porosity and permeability, and the reservoirs are divided into types Ⅰ, Ⅱ, and Ⅲ. Mercury injection tests show that the average pore throat radius of the oil-bearing reservoir ranges from 1 to 7 μm. The displacement pressure of the Yan'an Formation is also relatively low, and it decreases from 0.1 MPa to 0.01 MPa as the rock porosity increases from 11% to 18%. NMR tests show that small (diameter <0.5 μm) and medium pores (diameter ranging from 0.5 to 2.5 μm) are predominant in the reservoir. Different types of reservoirs have different characteristics of relative permeability curve. In addition, when the average oil recovery rate is less than 1 ml/min, the oil displacement efficiency increases faster. However, when the average oil recovery rate is between 1–3.5 ml/min, the oil displacement efficiency is maintained at around 27%–30%. Physical properties of the reservoir, pore-throat structure, experimental pressure difference, and pore volume injected — all have significant effects on oil displacement efficiency. For Type Ⅰ and Type Ⅱ reservoirs, the increase of the pore volume injected has a significant effect on oil displacement efficiency. However, for Type Ⅲ reservoirs, the change of pore volume injected has insignificant effect on oil displacement efficiency. This study provides a reference for the formulation of estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) measures for similar sandstone reservoirs.

Test of the Relative Permeability Curve of a Gas and Oil Condensate System and its Effect on the Recovery of Oil and Gas

The relative permeability curve has been measured with simulation oil (refined oil) and gas (nitrogen or air) at room temperature and a lowpressure, both of which are very important parameters for depicting the flow of fluid through porous media in a hydrocarbon reservoir. This basic measurement is often applied in exploitation evaluation, but the underground conditions with high temperature and pressure, and the phase equilibrium of oil and gas, are not taken into consideration when the relative permeability curve is tested. There is an important theoretical and practical sense in testing the diphase relative permeability curve of the equilibrium of oil and gas under the conditions of high temperature and pressure. The test method for the relative permeability curve is proposed in this paper. The relative permeability of the equilibrium of oil and gas and the standard one are tested in two fluids, and the differences between these two methods are stated. The research results can be applied to the simulation and prediction of CVD in long cores and then the phenomenon can better explain that the recovery of condensate gas rich in condensate oil is higher than that of CVD test in PVT. Meanwhile, the research shows that the relative permeability curve of equilibrium oil and gas is sensitive to the rate of exploitation, and the viewpoint proves that an improved gas recovery rate can properly increase the recovery of condensate oil.

Non-Darcy flow in oil accumulation (oil displacing water) and relative permeability and oil saturation characteristics of low-permeability sandstones

Hydrocarbon resources in low-permeability sandstones are very abundant and are extensively distributed. Low-permeability reservoirs show several unique characteristics, including lack of a definite trap boundary or caprock, limited buoyancy effect, complex oil-gas-water distribution, without obvious oil-gas-water interfaces, and relatively low oil （gas） saturation. Based on the simulation experiments of oil accumulation in low-permeability sandstone （oil displacing water）, we study the migration and accumulation characteristics of non-Darcy oil flow, and discuss the values and influencing factors of relative permeability which is a key parameter characterizing oil migration and accumulation in low-permeability sandstone. The results indicate that： 1） Oil migration （oil displacing water） in low- permeability sandstone shows non-Darcy percolation characteristics, and there is a threshold pressure gradient during oil migration and accumulation, which has a good negative correlation with permeability and apparent fluidity; 2） With decrease of permeability and apparent fluidity and increase of fluid viscosity, the percolation curve is closer to the pressure gradient axis and the threshold pressure gradient increases. When the apparent fluidity is more than 1.0, the percolation curve shows modified Darcy flow characteristics, while when the apparent fluidity up＂ non-Darcy percolation curve; 3） Oil-water is less than 1.0, the percolation curve is a ＂concave- two-phase relative permeability is affected by core permeability, fluid viscosity, apparent fluidity, and injection drive force; 4） The oil saturation of low- permeability sandstone reservoirs is mostly within 35%-60%, and the oil saturation also has a good positive correlation with the permeability and apparent fluidity.

Relative permeability estimation of oil-water two-phase flow in shale reservoir

Oil-water two-phase flow is ubiquitous in shale strata due to the existence of connate water and the injection of fracturing fluid.In this work,we propose a relative permeability model based on a modified Hagen-Poiseuille(HP)equation and shale reconstruction algorithm.The proposed model can consider the nanoconfined effects(slip length and spatially varying viscosity),oil-water distribution,pore size distribution(PSD),total organic matter content(TOC),and micro-fracture.The results show that the increasing contact angles of organic matters(OM)and inorganic minerals(iOM)increase the relative permeability of both oil and water.As the viscosity ratio increases,the relative permeability of oil phase increases while that of water phase decreases,due to the different water-oil distribution.The effective permeability of both oil and water decreases with the increasing TOC.However,the relative permeability of water phase increases while that of oil phase decreases.The increasing number and decreasing deviation angle of micro-fracture increase the effective permeability of oil and water.However,microfracture has a minor effect on relative permeability.Our model can help understand oil-water twophase flow in shale reservoirs and provide parameter characterization for reservoir numerical simulation.

Effect of H_(2)S content on relative permeability and capillary pressure characteristics of acid gas/brine/rock systems:A review

Geological storage of acid gas has been identified as a promising approach to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide(CO_(2)),hydrogen sulfide(H_(2)S)and alleviate public concern resulting from the sour gas production.A good understanding of the relative permeability and capillary pressure characteristics is crucial to predict the process of acid gas injection and migration.The prediction of injection and redistribution of acid gas is important to determine storage capacity,formation pressure,plume extent,shape,and leakage potential.Herein,the existing experimental data and theoretical models were reviewed to gain a better understanding of the issue how the H_(2)S content affects gas density,gas viscosity,interfacial tension,wettability,relative permeability and capillary pressure characteristics of acid gas/brine/rock systems.The densities and viscosities of the acid gas with different H_(2)S mole fractions are both temperature-and pressure-dependent,which vary among the gas,liquid and supercritical phases.Water/acid gas interfacial tension decreases strongly with increasing H_(2)S content.For mica and clean quartz,water contact angle increases with increasing H_(2)S mole fraction.In particular,wettability reversal of mica to a H_(2)S-wet behavior occurs in the presence of dense H_(2)S.The capillary pressure increases with decreasing contact angle.At a given saturation,the relative permeability of a fluid is higher when the fluid is nonwetting.The capillary pressure decreases with decreasing interfacial tension at a given saturation.However,the existing datasets do not show a consistent link between capillary number and relative permeability.The capillary pressure decreases with increasing H_(2)S mole fraction.However,there is no consensus on the effect of the H_(2)S content on the relative permeability curves.This may be due to the limited availability of the relative permeability and capillary pressure data for acid gas/brine/rock systems;thus,more experimental measurements are required.

Numerical simulation-based correction of relative permeability hysteresis in water-invaded underground gas storage during multi-cycle injection and production

By conducting relative permeability experiments of multi-cycle gas-water displacement and imbibition on natural cores,we discuss relative permeability hysteresis effect in underground gas storage during multi-cycle injection and production.A correction method for relative permeability hysteresis in numerical simulation of water-invaded gas storage has been worked out using the Carlson and Killough models.A geologic model of water-invaded sandstone gas storage with medium-low permeability is built to investigate the impacts of relative permeability hysteresis on fluid distribution and production performance during multi-cycle injection and production of the gas storage.The study shows that relative permeability hysteresis effect occurs during high-speed injection and production in gas storage converted from water-invaded gas reservoir,and leads to increase of gas-water transition zone width and thickness,shrinkage of the area of high-efficiency gas storage,and decrease of the peak value variation of pore volume containing gas,and then reduces the storage capacity,working gas volume,and high-efficiency operation span of the gas storage.Numerical simulations exhibit large prediction errors of performance indexes if this hysteresis effect is not considered.Killough and Carlson methods can be used to correct the relative permeability hysteresis effect in water-invaded underground gas storage to improve the prediction accuracy.The Killough method has better adaptability to the example model.

Estimation of the water–oil–gas relative permeability curve from immiscible WAG coreflood experiments using the cubic B-spline model

Immiscible water-alternating-gas（WAG） flooding is an EOR technique that has proven successful for water drive reservoirs due to its ability to improve displacement and sweep efficiency.Nevertheless,considering the complicated phase behavior and various multiphase flow characteristics,gas tends to break through early in production wells in heterogeneous formations because of overriding,fingering,and channeling,which may result in unfavorable recovery performance.On the basis of phase behavior studies,minimum miscibility pressure measurements,and immiscible WAG coreflood experiments,the cubic B-spline model（CBM） was employed to describe the three-phase relative permeability curve.Using the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm to adjust the vector of unknown model parameters of the CBM sequentially,optimization of production performance including pressure drop,water cut,and the cumulative gas-oil ratio was performed.A novel numerical inversion method was established for estimation of the water-oil-gas relative permeability curve during the immiscible WAG process.Based on the quantitative characterization of major recovery mechanisms,the proposed method was validated by interpreting coreflood data of the immiscible WAG experiment.The proposed method is reliable and can meet engineering requirements.It provides a basic calculation theory for implicit estimation of oil-water-gas relative permeability curve.

A Method for Calculating Oil Field Relative Permeability Curve by Using Water Drive Characteristic Curve in High Water Cut Stage

With the production of strong bottom water reservoir, it will soon enter the ultra-high water cut stage. After entering the ultra-high water cut period, the main means of stable production is liquid extraction. Large liquid volume has a certain impact on the physical property distribution and fluid seepage law of the oilfield. The relative permeability curve measured according to the industry standard is not used for the prediction of development indicators and the understanding of the dynamic law of the oilfield. In order to understand the characteristics of water drive law in high water cut stage of water drive oilfield, starting from the water drive characteristic curve in high water cut stage, the method for calculating the relative permeability curve is deduced. Through numerical simulation verification and fitting the actual production data, it is confirmed that the obtained relative permeability curve is in line with the reality of the oilfield, It can provide some guiding significance for understanding the production law and water drive law of strong bottom water reservoir in ultra-high water cut stage.

Wettability modification effects on relative permeability end-points:Comparative analysis of surfactant agents for enhanced oil recovery

This research examines the impact of wettability alteration on the end points of relative permeability,a crucial property of fluids and porous media that influences the displacement processes of immiscible fluids through such media.The estimation of the mobility ratio for oil recovery relies on these end points,which are influenced by connate water saturation and residual oil saturation.To investigate this relationship,carbonate rock is generally subjected to wettability alteration using surfactant agents,and core flooding is employed to determine the relative permeability before and after the alteration.The wettability of the rock is commonly assessed through contact angle measurements.Two surfactants,TritonX-100(Tx-100)and Cedar,were tested in reducing the wettability of the porous media for oil.The contact angle measurements revealed that Tx-100 was more effective for this purpose than Cedar.Furthermore,the relative permeability tests indicated that both surfactants decreased residual oil saturation,but Tx-100 also improved system pressure.In contrast,Cedar reduced residual oil saturation but increased system pressure,possibly because of its high viscosity.The results also demonstrate that injecting Tx-100 leads to a 14%increase in ultimate oil recovery compared with water injection,while Cedar injection increased the recovery factor by 5%.This difference may be attributed to the incomplete coverage of the pore wall by Cedar or its weaker chemical structure than Tx-100.Notably,in carbonate cores,neither non-ionic surfactant enhanced oil recovery.

Characterization of the generalized permeability jail in tight reservoirs by analyzing relative-permeability curves and numerical simulation

This study comprehensively characterizes the boundary values of generalized permeability jail in tight reservoirs through relative-permeability curve analysis,numerical simulation,and economic evaluation.A total number of 108 relative-permeability curves of rock samples from tight reservoirs were obtained,and the characteristics of relative-permeability curves were analyzed.The irreducible water saturation(Swi)mainly ranges from 20% to 70%,and the residual gas saturation(Sgr)ranges from 5% to 15% for 55% of the samples.The relative-permeability curves are categorized into six types(Category-Ⅰ to Ⅵ)by analyzing the following characteristics:The relative permeability of gas at Swi,the relative permeability of water at Sgr,and the relative permeability corresponding to the isotonic point.The relative permeability curves were normalized to facilitate numerical simulation and evaluate the impact of different types of curves on production performance.The results of simulation show significant difference in production performance for different types of relative-permeability curves:Category-Ⅰ corresponds to the case with best well performance,whereas Categories-Ⅴ and Ⅵ correspond to the cases with least production volume.The results of economic evaluation show a generalized permeability jail for Categories-Ⅳ,Ⅴ,and Ⅵ,and the permeability jail develops when the relative permeability of gas and water is below 0.06.This study further quantifies the range of micro-pore parameters corresponding to the generalized permeability jail for a tight sandstone reservoir.

A relative permeability model for deformable soils and its impact on coupled unsaturated flow and elasto-plastic deformation processes.

Relative permeability is an indispensable property for characterizing the unsaturated flow and induced deformation in soils. The widely used Mualem model is inadequate for deformable soils because of its assumption of a rigid pore structure and the resultant unique dependence of the tortuosity factor on the volumetric water content. In this study, a unified relationship between the relative permeability and the effective degree of saturation was proposed for deformable soils by incorporating our newly developed water retention curve model into the original Mualem model, in which a new tortuosity factor was defined using the fractal dimension of flow paths and the mean radius of water-filled pores for representing the effect of pore structure variation. The modified deformation-dependent relative permeability model was verified using test data on five types of soils; the verification revealed a much better performance of the proposed model than the original model, which commonly overestimates the relative permeability of deformable soils. Finally, the proposed model was implemented in a coupled numerical model for examining the unsaturated flow and elastoplastic deformation processes in a soil slope induced by rain infiltration. The numerical results showed that the deformation-dependent nature of relative permeability has a remarkable effect on the elastoplastic deformation in the slope and that neglect of the deformation-dependent behavior of relative permeability causes overestimation of the depth of failure.

Efect of Ball Scribing on Relative Permeability of Grain-oriented Electrical Steel

Efect of ball scribing on relative permeability of conventional grain-oriented（CGO） and high permeability grain-oriented（HGO） electrical steel was investigated. The samples were scribed with spacing of 2 mm, 4 mm, 8 mm and 16 mm. The results show that after ball scribing with 16 mm width at 1.0 T, relative permeability of both℃GO and HGO steels was increased by 109% and 80%, respectively. Relative permeability rises as the scribing space increases, with the movement of the peak value of relative permeability to a higher flux density. Relational models describing relative permeability and flux density were constructed with high accuracy based on experimental data. The experimental data curves were analyzed during the magnetizing process.

Evolving simple-to-use method to determine watereoil relative permeability in petroleum reservoirs

In the current research,a new approach constructed based on artificial intelligence concept is introduced to determine water/oil relative permeability at various conditions.To attain an effective tool,various artificial intelligence approaches such as artificial neural network(ANN),hybrid of genetic algorithm and particle swarm optimization(HGAPSO)are examined.Intrinsic potential of feed-forward artificial neural network(ANN)optimized by different optimization algorithms are composed to estimate water/oil relative permeability.The optimization methods such as genetic algorithm,particle swarm optimization and hybrid approach of them are implemented to obtain optimal connection weights involved in the developed smart technique.The constructed intelligent models are evaluated by utilizing extensive experimental data reported in open literature.Results obtained from the proposed intelligent tools were compared with the corresponding experimental relative permeability data.The average absolute deviation between the model predictions and the relevant experimental data was found to be less than 0.1%for hybrid genetic algorithm and particle swarm optimization technique.It is expected that implication of HGAPSO-ANN in relative permeability of water/oil estimation leads to more reliable water/oil relative permeability predictions,resulting in design of more comprehensive simulation and further plans for reservoir production and management.

Evaluation of gas condensate reservoir behavior using velocity dependent relative permeability during the numerical well test analysis

Gas condensate is one of the most different fluids in reservoir simulation due to retrograde condensation in case of pressure reduction.In this kind of fluids,two phenomena named negative inertia and positive coupling,become significant in the high velocity zone around the wellbore.In this study,a modified black oil simulator is developed that take into account the velocity dependent relative permeability.Against the industrial simulator that assumes linear variation of transmissibilities by pressure,modified black oil nonlinear equations are solved directly without linearization.The developed code is validated by ECLIPSE simulator.The behavior of two real gas condensate fluids,a lean and a rich one,are compared with each other.For each fluid,simulations of PVT experiments are carried out to calculate black oil property applying Coats approach for gas condensate fluids.For both fluids,the proposed models for gas condensate velocity dependent relative permeability show different influence of velocity on relative permeability in the same conditions.Moreover,it is observed that higher flow rate of gas production leads to more condensate production during constant rate well testing.

Study on gas-liquid relative permeability experiments of fractured-porous reservoirs

For carbonate reservoirs,gas-water and oil-gas relative permeability curve are of importance for parameters calculation in oil-field development,dynamic analysis and numerical reservoir simulation.The oil-gas/gas-water relative permeability curves were measured with unstable method under normal temperature and low pressure,using fifteen artificial fractured cores.The shape and change characteristics of gas/water and oil/gas relative permeability curve were mainly analyzed.The results showed that for the relative permeability curve of water driving gas.The saturation of equal permeability point,the saturation range of two-phase flow region and the displacement efficiency has a good power-function relation with core permeability.In addition,the saturation of equal permeability point,the saturation range of two-phase flow region and the displacement efficiency will decrease with the increasing of core permeability.However,for oil-gas relative permeability curves,the saturation of equal permeability point,the saturation range of two-phase flow region and the displacement efficiency will increase with the increasing of core permeability.It should be noted that the gas relative permeability presents a straight line in the normalized relative permeability curve,which indicates that the main flow is dominated by fracture with low displacement efficiency.The research results provide theory basis for fracture-vuggy carbonate reservoir development and new research idea for the further study of this kind of reservoir.

SOLUTION OF RELATIVE PERMEABILITY OF TWO-PHASE FLOW IN POROUS MEDIUM

In view of the resolution of relative Permeability curves of unconsolidated core containing heavy petroleum, a set of equations governing the oil/water coreflood are obtained based on porous medium flow theory, numerical analysis, optimum theory and error analysis.The optimum problems are solved by means of constraint variable metric method. The sensitivity of results to initial data is eliminated. Several examples are included to illustrate the reliability and usefulness of this method.

Pore network modeling of water block in low permeability reservoirs

A pore network model was used in this paper to investigate the factors, in particular, throat radius, wettability and initial water saturation, causing water block in low permeability reservoirs. A new term - ＇relative permeability number＇ （RPN） was firstly defined, and then used to describe the degree of water block. Imbibition process simulations show that the RPN drops in accordance with the extension of the averaged pore throat radius from 0.05 to 1.5 μm, and yet once beyond that point of 1.5 μm, the RPN reaches a higher value, indicating the existence of a critical pore throat radius where water block is the maximum. When the wettability of the samples changes from water-wet to weakly water-wet, weakly gas-wet, or gas（oil）-wet, the gas RPN increases consistently, but this consistency is disturbed by the RPN dropping for weakly water-wet samples for water saturations less than 0.4, which means weakly waterwet media are more easily water blocked than water-wet systems. In the situation where the initial water saturation exceeds 0.05, water block escalates along with an increase in initial water saturation.

“Extreme utilization” theory and practice in gas storages with complex geological conditions

Based on more than 20-year operation of gas storages with complex geological conditions and a series of research findings, the pressure-bearing dynamics mechanism of geological body is revealed. With the discovery of gas-water flowing law of multi-cycle relative permeability hysteresis and differential utilization in zones, the extreme utilization theory targeting at the maximum amount of stored gas, maximum injection-production capacity and maximum efficiency in space utilization is proposed to support the three-in-one evaluation method of the maximum pressure-bearing capacity of geological body, maximum well production capacity and maximum peak shaving capacity of storage space. This study realizes the full potential of gas storage(storage capacity) at maximum pressure, maximum formation-wellbore coordinate production, optimum well spacing density match with finite-time unsteady flow, and peaking shaving capacity at minimum pressure, achieving perfect balance between security and capacity. Operation in gas storages, such as Hutubi in Xinjiang, Xiangguosi in Xinan, and Shuang6 in Liaohe, proves that extreme utilization theory has promoted high quality development of gas storages in China.

The Effect of Temperature on Irreducible Water Saturation of Water-wet Cores

The conventional measurement of a relative permeability curve (RPC) is usually conducted at room temperature, which is much lower than the reservoir temperature. Previous research work on high temperature relative permeability mainly take oil-wetted cores as objective. In this paper, laboratory test and measurement are conducted using water-wet cores from the Lunnan Oilfield. Since irreducible water saturation (Swi) is a critical factor that affects and controls the relative permeability curve, special tests are conducted to measure Swi at different temperatures for water-wet cores in the course of the experiment of relative permeability. The experimental results indicate that for the water-wet cores Swi decreased with the increasing temperature from ambient to 105℃,and the relative permeability curve shifted in a low water saturation direction, i.e. moved toward the left, while it moved toward the right for oil wetness reservoirs. Seen from both macroscopic and microcosmic view, the reasons and mechanisms of relative permeability change with temperature are discussed, and factors including core wetness, viscosity force, capillary forces, contact angle, interfacial tension change are considered.