Optimization of Gas-Flooding Fracturing Development in Ultra-Low Permeability Reservoirs

Ultra-low permeability reservoirs are characterized by small pore throats and poor physical properties, which areat the root of well-known problems related to injection and production. In this study, a gas injection floodingapproach is analyzed in the framework of numerical simulations. In particular, the sequence and timing of fracturechanneling and the related impact on production are considered for horizontal wells with different fracturemorphologies. Useful data and information are provided about the regulation of gas channeling and possible strategiesto delay gas channeling and optimize the gas injection volume and fracture parameters. It is shown that inorder to mitigate gas channeling and ensure high production, fracture length on the sides can be controlled andlonger fractures can be created in the middle by which full gas flooding is obtained at the fracture location in themiddle of the horizontal well. A Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm is provided by which the gas injectionvolume and the fracture parameters of gas injection flooding can be optimized. It is shown that an improvedoil recovery factor as high as 6% can be obtained.

Numerical Simulation of Two-Phase Flow in Glutenite Reservoirs for Optimized Deployment in Horizontal Wells

It is known that the pore media characteristics of glutenite reservoirs are different from those of conventional sandstone reservoirs.Low reservoir permeability and naturally developed microfractures make water injection in this kind of reservoir very difficult.In this study,new exploitation methods are explored.Using a real glutenite reservoir as a basis,a three-dimensional fine geological model is elaborated.Then,combining the model with reservoir performance information,and through a historical fitting analysis,the saturation abundance distribution of remaining oil in the reservoir is determined.It is shown that,using this information,predictions can be made about whether the considered reservoir is suitable for horizontal well fracturing or not.The direction,well length,well spacing and productivity of horizontal well are also obtained.

Analyzing environmental flow supply in the semi-arid area through integrating drought analysis and optimal operation of reservoir

This study proposes a novel form of environmental reservoir operation through integrating environmental flow supply,drought analysis,and evolutionary optimization.This study demonstrates that simultaneous supply of downstream environmental flow of reservoir as well as water demand is challenging in the semi-arid area especially in dry years.In this study,water supply and environmental flow supply were 40%and 30%in the droughts,respectively.Moreover,mean errors of supplying water demand as well as environmental flow in dry years were 6 and 9 m3/s,respectively.Hence,these results highlight that ecological stresses of the downstream aquatic habitats as well as water supply loss are considerably escalated in dry years,which implies even using environmental optimal operation is not able to protect downstream aquatic habitats properly in the severe droughts.Moreover,available storage in reservoir will be remarkably reduced(averagely more than 30×106 m3 compared with optimal storage equal to 70×106 m3),which implies strategic storage of reservoir might be threatened.Among used evolutionary algorithms,particle swarm optimization(PSO)was selected as the best algorithm for solving the novel proposed objective function.The significance of this study is to propose a novel objective function to optimize reservoir operation in which environmental flow supply is directly addressed and integrated with drought analysis.This novel form of optimization system can overcome uncertainties of the conventional objective function due to considering environmental flow in the objective function as well as drought analysis in the context of reservoir operation especially applicable in semi-arid areas.The results indicate that using either other water resources for water supply or reducing water demand is the only solution for managing downstream ecological impacts of the river ecosystem.In other words,the results highlighted that replanning of water resources in the study area is necessary.Replacing the conventional optimization system for reservoir operation in the semi-arid area with proposed optimization system is recommendable to minimize the negotiations between stakeholders and environmental managers.

Investigation of influence factors on CO_(2) flowback characteristics and optimization of flowback parameters during CO_(2) dry fracturing in tight gas reservoirs

CO_(2) dry fracturing is a promising alternative method to water fracturing in tight gas reservoirs,especially in water-scarce areas such as the Loess Plateau.The CO_(2) flowback efficiency is a critical factor that affects the final gas production effect.However,there have been few studies focusing on the flowback characteristics after CO_(2) dry fracturing.In this study,an extensive core-to-field scale study was conducted to investigate CO_(2) flowback characteristics and CH_(4) production behavior.Firstly,to investigate the impact of core properties and production conditions on CO_(2) flowback,a series of laboratory experiments at the core scale were conducted.Then,the key factors affecting the flowback were analyzed using the grey correlation method based on field data.Finally,taking the construction parameters of Well S60 as an example,a dual-permeability model was used to characterize the different seepage fields in the matrix and fracture for tight gas reservoirs.The production parameters after CO_(2) dry fracturing were then optimized.Experimental results demonstrate that CO_(2) dry fracturing is more effective than slickwater fracturing,with a 9.2%increase in CH_(4) recovery.The increase in core permeability plays a positive role in improving CH_(4) production and CO_(2) flowback.The soaking process is mainly affected by CO_(2) diffusion,and the soaking time should be controlled within 12 h.Increasing the flowback pressure gradient results in a significant increase in both CH_(4) recovery and CO_(2) flowback efficiency.While,an increase in CO_(2) injection is not conducive to CH_(4) production and CO_(2) flowback.Based on the experimental and field data,the important factors affecting flowback and production were comprehensively and effectively discussed.The results show that permeability is the most important factor,followed by porosity and effective thickness.Considering flowback efficiency and the influence of proppant reflux,the injection volume should be the minimum volume that meets the requirements for generating fractures.The soaking time should be short which is 1 day in this study,and the optimal bottom hole flowback pressure should be set at 10 MPa.This study aims to improve the understanding of CO_(2) dry fracturing in tight gas reservoirs and provide valuable insights for optimizing the process parameters.

Optimized operation of cascade reservoirs on Wujiang River during 2009-2010 drought in southwest China

The effects of optimized operation principles implemented at reservoirs on the Wujiang River in southwest China between September 2009 and April 2010 under drought conditions were analyzed based on operational data collected from the Guizhou Wujiang Hydropower Development Co., Ltd. A set of linear regression equations was developed to identify the key factors impacting the electric power generation at reservoirs. A 59% reduction in the inflow discharge at the Hongjiadu Reservoir led to a decrease of only 38% in the total electric power generation at the Hongjiadu, Dongfeng, Suofengying, and Wujiangdu reservoirs on the Wujiang River, indicating that optimized operation can play an important role in drought management. The water level and the amount of other water inputs at the Hongjiadu Reservoir and the outflow discharge at all of the reservoirs except the Wujiangdu Reservoir were key factors affecting the total electric power generation at reservoirs on the Wujiang River under optimized operation.

Efficient production optimization for naturally fractured reservoir using EDFM

Naturally fractured reservoirs make important contributions to global oil and gas reserves and production.The modeling and simulation of naturally fractured reservoirs are different from conventional reservoirs as the existence of natural fractures.To address the development optimization problem of naturally fractured reservoirs,we propose an optimization workflow by coupling the optimization methods with the embedded discrete fracture model(EDFM).Firstly,the effective and superior performance of the workflow is verified based on the conceptual model.The stochastic simplex approximate gradient(StoSAG)algorithm,the ensemble optimization(EnOpt)algorithm,and the particle swarm optimization(PSO)algorithm are implemented for the production optimization of naturally fractured reservoirs based on the improved versions of the Egg model and the PUNQ-S3 model.The results of the two cases demonstrate the effectiveness of this optimization workflow by finding the optimal well controls which yield the maximum net present value(NPV).Compared to the initial well control guess,the final NPV obtained from the production optimization of fractured reservoirs based on all three optimization algorithms is significantly enhanced.Compared with the optimization results of the PSO algorithm,StoSAG and EnOpt have significant advantages in terms of final NPV and computational efficiency.The results also show that fractures have a significant impact on reservoir production.The economic efficiency of fractured reservoir development can be significantly improved by the optimization workflow.

Optimal Operation of Multi-Objective Hydropower Reservoir with Ecology Consideration

Aiming at the problem that traditional optimal operation of hydropower reservoir pays little attention to ecology, an optimal operation model of multi-objective hydropower reservoir with ecology consideration is established which combines the ecology and power generation. The model takes the maximum annual power generation benefit, the maximum output of the minimal output stage in the year and the minimum shortage of ecological water demand as objectives, and water quantity balance of reservoir, reservoir storage, discharge flow, output and so on as constraints. Chaotic genetic arithmetic is developed to solve the optimal model. An example is studied, showing that the annual generation of the proposed model is 8 million kW?h less than that model without ecology consideration, which is about 0.28 percent. But the proposed model is in favor of river ecology protection, and can promote the sustainable utilization of water resources. So it is worthy and necessary for the optimal operation of hydropower reservoir with ecology consideration.

Porosity Calculation of Tight Sand Gas Reservoirs with GA-CM Hybrid Optimization Log Interpretation Method

Tight sand gas reservoirs are our country’s fairly rich unconventional natural gas resources, and their exploration and development is of prime importance. Sulige Gas Field which located in the northern Ordos Basin is tight sand gas reservoirs. It is typically featured by low porosity and low permeability, and the error of porosity calculation by traditional methods is larger. Multicomponent explanation model is built by analyzing the thin slice data, and the objective function is got according to the concept of optimization log interpretation method. This paper puts the Genetic Algorithm and the Complex Algorithm together to form the GA-CM Hybrid Algorithm for searching the optimal solution of the objective function, getting the porosity of tight sandstone gas reservoirs. The deviation got by this method is lesser compared with the core porosity, with a high reliability.

Multi-Objective Optimization of Water-Sedimentation-Power in Reservoir Based on Pareto-Optimal Solution

A multi-objective optimal operation model of water-sedimentation-power in reservoir is established with power-generation, sedimentation and water storage taken into account. Moreover, the inertia weight self-adjusting mechanism and Pareto-optimal archive are introduced into the particle swarm optimization and an improved multi-objective particle swarm optimization (IMOPSO) is proposed. The IMOPSO is employed to solve the optimal model and obtain the Pareto-optimal front. The multi-objective optimal operation of Wanjiazhai Reservoir during the spring breakup was investigated with three typical flood hydrographs. The results show that the former method is able to obtain the Pareto-optimal front with a uniform distribution property. Different regions (A, B, C) of the Pareto-optimal front correspond to the optimized schemes in terms of the objectives of sediment deposition, sediment deposition and power generation, and power generation, respectively. The level hydrographs and outflow hydrographs show the operation of the reservoir in details. Compared with the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II), IMOPSO has close global op- timization capability and is suitable for multi-objective optimization problems.

Differential Evolution Algorithm with Application to Optimal Operation of Multipurpose Reservoir

This paper includes an application of Differential Evolution (DE) for the optimal operation of multipurpose reservoir. The objective of the study is to maximize the hydropower production. The constraints for the optimization problem are reservoir capacity, turbine release capacity constraints, irrigation supply demand constraints and storage continuity. For initializing population, the upper and lower bounds of decision variables are fixed. The fitness of each vector is evaluated. The mutation and recombination is performed. The control parameters, i.e., population size, crossover constant and the weight are fixed according to their fitness value. This procedure is performed for the ten different strategies of DE. Sensitivity analysis performed for ten strategies of DE suggested that, De/best/1/bin is the best strategy which gives optimal solution. The DE algorithm application is presented through Jayakwadi project stage-I, Maharashtra State, India. Genetic algorithm is utilized as a comparative approach to assess the ability of DE. The results of GA and ten DE strategies for the given parameters indicated that both the results are comparable. The model is run for dependable inflows. Monthly maximized hydropower production and irrigation releases are presented. These values will be the basis for decision maker to take decisions regarding operation policy of the reservoir. Results of application of DE model indicate that the maximized hydropower production is 30.885 ×106 kwh and the cor-responding irrigation release is 928.44 Mm3.

Optimal Operation of Multipurpose Reservoir for Irrigation Planning with Conjunctive Use of Surface and Groundwater

In the present study, a Linear Programming (LP) model is developed for the conjunctive use of surface water and ground water to obtain the optimal operating policy for a multipurpose single reservoir. The objective of the present study is to maximize the net benefit from the command area under consideration. The constraints imposed on the objective function are maximum and minimum irrigation demands, reservoir storages and canal capacity. The model takes into account the continuity constraint which includes inflows in to the reservoir, releases for irrigation, releases for hydro-power generation, evaporation losses, feeder canal releases, initial and final storages in the reservoir in each time period. The developed model is applied to the case study of Jayakwadi reservoir stage-I, built across river Godavari, Maharashtra, India. Initially the model is solved for the availability of surface water which results in net benefit of 3373.45 million rupees with irrigation intensity is 57.07%. Next the model solved by considering the availability of surface water and available potential of groundwater in the area, which results in net benefits of 3590.02 million rupees with an intensity of irrigation 58.48%. The present model takes in to account the socio-economic requirement of growing the essential crops to meet the requirement of the society. The model has also generated the canal wise optimal releases for irrigation and power, monthly utilization of groundwater, storages in the reservoir at the end of every month and corresponding head over the turbine.

Auto-optimization of production-injection rate for reservoirs with strong natural aquifer at ultra-high water cut stage

Based on the optimal control theory and taking the production law of reservoirs with strong natural aquifer as the basic constraint, a mathematical model of liquid production for such reservoirs in the later stage of development is established. The model is solved by improved simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation algorithm(SPSA), and an automatic optimization software for liquid production is developed. This model avoids the disadvantage of traditional optimization methods that only focus on the maximum value of mathematics but ignore the production law of oilfield. It has the advantages of high efficiency of calculation, short period and automatic optimization. It can satisfy the automatic optimization of liquid production in later stage of oilfield development. The software was applied in the oilfield development of D oilfield, Ecuador in South America, and realized the automatic optimization of liquid production in the later stage of oilfield development.

Study on Productivity Model of Herringbone-Like Laterals Wells and Optimization of Morphological Parameters Considering Threshold Pressure Gradient in Heavy Oil Reservoirs

Compared with conventional well, herringbone-like laterals wells can increase the area of oil release, and can reduce the number of wellhead slots of platforms,?and?also can greatly improve the development efficiency. Based on threshold pressure gradient in heavy oil reservoir,?and?the applied principle of mirror reflection and superposition, the pressure distribution equation of herringbone-like laterals wells is obtained in heavy oil reservoir. Productivity model of herringbone-like laterals wells is proposed by reservoir-wellbore steady seepage. The example shows that the productivity model is great accuracy?to?predict the productivity of herringbone-like laterals wells. The model is used to analyze the branching length, branching angle, branching symmetry, branching position and spacing and their effects on productivity of herringbone-like laterals wells. The principle of optimizing the well shape of herringbone-like laterals wells is proposed.

Multi-objective reservoir operation using particle swarm optimization with adaptive random inertia weights

Based on conventional particle swarm optimization(PSO),this paper presents an efficient and reliable heuristic approach using PSO with an adaptive random inertia weight(ARIW)strategy,referred to as the ARIW-PSO algorithm,to build a multi-objective optimization model for reservoir operation.Using the triangular probability density function,the inertia weight is randomly generated,and the probability density function is automatically adjusted to make the inertia weight generally greater in the initial stage of evolution,which is suitable for global searches.In the evolution process,the inertia weight gradually decreases,which is beneficial to local searches.The performance of the ARIWPSO algorithm was investigated with some classical test functions,and the results were compared with those of the genetic algorithm(GA),the conventional PSO,and other improved PSO methods.Then,the ARIW-PSO algorithm was applied to multi-objective optimal dispatch of the Panjiakou Reservoir and multi-objective flood control operation of a reservoir group on the Luanhe River in China,including the Panjiakou Reservoir,Daheiting Reservoir,and Taolinkou Reservoir.The validity of the multi-objective optimization model for multi-reservoir systems based on the ARIW-PSO algorithm was verified.

Multi Objective Multireservoir Optimization in Fuzzy Environment for River Sub Basin Development and Management

In this paper, a multi objective, multireservoir operation model is proposed using Genetic algorithm (GA) under fuzzy environment. A monthly Multi Objective Genetic Algorithm Fuzzy Optimization (MOGAFU-OPT) model for the present study is developed in ‘C’ Language. The GA parameters i.e. population size, number of generations, crossover probability, and mutation probability are decided based on optimized val-ues of fitness function. The GA operators adopted are stochastic remainder selection, one point crossover and binary mutation. Initially the model is run for maximization of irrigation releases. Then the model is run for maximization of hydropower production. These objectives are fuzzified by assuming a linear membership function. These fuzzified objectives are simultaneously maximized by defining level of satisfaction (?) and then maximizing it. This approach is applied to a multireservoir system in Godavari river sub basin in Ma-harashtra State, India. Problem is formulated with 4 reservoirs and a barrage. The optimal operation policy for maximization of irrigation releases, maximization of hydropower production and maximization of level of satisfaction is presented for existing demand in command area. This optimal operation policy so deter-mined is compared with the actual average operation policy for Jayakwadi Stage-I reservoir.

Research into polymer injection timing for Bohai heavy oil reservoirs

Polymer flooding has been proven to effectively improve oil recovery in the Bohai Oil Field. However, due to high oil viscosity and significant formation heterogeneity, it is necessary to further improve the displacement effectiveness of polymer flooding in heavy oil reservoirs in the service life of offshore platforms. In this paper, the effects of the water/oil mobility ratio in heavy oil reservoirs and the dimensionless oil productivity index on polymer flooding effectiveness were studied utilizing rel- ative permeability curves. The results showed that when the water saturation was less than the value, where the water/oil mobility ratio was equal to 1, polymer flooding could effectively control the increase of fractional water flow, which meant that the upper limit of water/oil ratio suitable for polymer flooding should be the value when the water/oil mobility ratio was equal to 1. Mean while, by injecting a certain volume of water to create water channels in the reservoir, the polymer flooding would be the most effective in improving sweep efficiency, and lower the fractional flow of water to the value corresponding to △Jmax. Considering the service life of the platform and the polymer mobility control capacity, the best polymer injection timing for heavy oil reservoirs was optimized. It has been tested for reservoirs with crude oil viscosity of 123 and 70 mPa s, the optimum polymer flooding effec- tiveness could be obtained when the polymer floods were initiated at the time when the fractional flow of water were 10 % and 25 %, respectively. The injection timing range for polymer flooding was also theoretically analyzed for the Bohai Oil Field utilizing which provided methods for effectiveness. relative permeability curves, improving polymer flooding

Microscopic sand production simulation and visual sanding pattern description in weakly consolidated sandstone reservoirs

To visually describe the sanding pattern,this study constructs a new particle-scale microstructure model of weakly consolidated formation,and develop the corresponding methodology to simulate the sanding process and predict sand cavity shape.The microstructure model is a particle-objective model,which focuses on the random sedimentation of every sand grain.In the microstructure,every particle has its own size,sphericity and inclination angle.It is used to simulate the actual structure of cemented granular materials,which considers the heterogeneity and randomness of reservoir properties,provides the initial status for subsequent sanding simulation.With the particle detachment criteria,the microscopic simulation of sanding can be visually implemented to investigate the pattern and cavity shapes caused by sand production.The results indicate that sanding always starts initially from the borehole border,and then extends along the weakly consolidated plane,showing obvious characteristic of randomness.Three typical microscopic sanding patterns,concerning pore liquefaction,pseudo wormhole and continuous collapse,are proposed to illustrate the sanding mechanism in weakly consolidated reservoirs.The nonuniformity of sanding performance depends on the heterogeneous distribution of reservoir properties,such as rock strength and particle size.Finally,the three sanding patterns are verified by visually experimental work.The proposed integrated methodology is capable of predicting and describing the sanding cavity shape of an oil well after long-term sanding production,and providing the focus objective of future sand control measure.

Harmony search optimization applied to reservoir engineering assisted history matching

Based on the analysis of characteristics and advantages of HSO(harmony search optimization) algorithm, HSO was used in reservoir engineering assisted history matching of Kareem reservoir in Amal field in the Gulf of Suez, Egypt. HSO algorithm has the following advantages:(1) The good balance between exploration and exploitation techniques during searching for optimal solutions makes the HSO algorithm robust and efficient.(2) The diversity of generated solutions is more effectively controlled by two components, making it suitable for highly non-linear problems in reservoir engineering history matching.(3) The integration between the three components(harmony memory values, pitch adjusting and randomization) of the HSO helps in finding unbiased solutions.(4) The implementation process of the HSO algorithm is much easier. The HSO algorithm and two other commonly used algorithms(genetic and particle swarm optimization algorithms) were used in three reservoir engineering history match questions of different complex degrees, which are two material balance history matches of different scales and one reservoir history matching. The results were compared, which proves the superiority and validity of HSO. The results of Kareem reservoir history matching show that using the HSO algorithm as the optimization method in the assisted history matching workflow improves the simulation quality and saves solution time significantly.

Development of the theory and technology for low permeability reservoirs in China

The development theories of low-permeability oil and gas reservoirs are refined, the key development technologies are summarized, and the prospect and technical direction of sustainable development are discussed based on the understanding and research on developed low-permeability oil and gas resources in China. The main achievements include:(1) the theories of low-permeability reservoir seepage, dual-medium seepage, relative homogeneity, etc.(2) the well location optimization technology combining favorable area of reservoir with gas-bearing prediction and combining pre-stack with post-stack;(3) oriented perforating multi-fracture, multistage sand adding, multistage temporary plugging, vertical well multilayer, horizontal and other fracturing techniques to improve productivity of single well;(4) the technology of increasing injection and keeping pressure, such as overall decreasing pressure, local pressurization, shaped charge stamping and plugging removal, fine separate injection, mild advanced water injection and so on;(5) enhanced recovery technology of optimization of injection-production well network in horizontal wells. To continue to develop low-permeability reserves economically and effectively, there are three aspects of work to be done well:(1) depending on technical improvement, continue to innovate new technologies and methods, establish a new mode of low quality reservoir development economically, determine the main technical boundaries and form replacement technology reserves of advanced development;(2) adhering to the management system of low cost technology & low cost, set up a complete set of low-cost dual integration innovation system through continuous innovation in technology and management;(3) striving for national preferential policies.

Reservoir volume optimization and performance evaluation of rooftop catchment systems in arid regions: A case study of Birjand, Iran

This study evaluated the performance of rooftop catchment systems in securing non-potable water supply in Birjand, located in an arid area in southeastern Iran. The rooftop catchment systems at seven study sites of different residential buildings were simulated for dry, normal, and wet water years, using 31-year rainfall records. The trial and error approach and mass diagram method were employed to optimize the volume of reservoirs in five different operation scenarios. Results showed that, during the dry water year from 2000 to 2001, for reservoirs with volumes of 200-20000 L, the proportion of days that could be secured for non-portable water supply was on average computed to be 16.4%-32.6% across all study sites. During the normal water year from 2009 to 2010 and the wet water year from 1995 to 1996, for reservoirs with volumes of 200-20000 L, the proportions were 20.8%-69.6% and 26.8%-80.3%, respectively. Therefore, a rooftop catchment system showed a high potential to meet a significant portion of non-potable water demand in the Birjand climatic region. Reservoir volume optimization using the mass diagram method produced results consistent with those obtained with the trial and error approach, except at sites #1, #2, and #5. At these sites, the trial and error approach performed better than the mass diagram method due to relatively high water consumption. It is concluded that the rooftop catchment system is applicable under the same climatic conditions as the study area, and it can be used as a drought mitigation strategy as well.