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.

Fully coupled fluid-solid productivity numerical simulation of multistage fractured horizontal well in tight oil reservoirs

A mathematical model, fully coupling multiple porous media deformation and fluid flow, was established based on the elastic theory of porous media and fluid-solid coupling mechanism in tight oil reservoirs. The finite element method was used to determine the numerical solution and the accuracy of the model was verified. On this basis, the model was used to simulate productivity of multistage fractured horizontal wells in tight oil reservoirs. The results show that during the production of tight oil wells, the reservoir region close to artificial fractures deteriorated in physical properties significantly, e.g. the aperture and conductivity of artificial fractures dropped by 52.12% and 89.02% respectively. The simulations of 3000-day production of a horizontal well in tight oil reservoir showed that the predicted productivity by the uncoupled model had an error of 38.30% from that by the fully-coupled model. Apparently, ignoring the influence of fluid-solid interaction effect led to serious deviations of the productivity prediction results. The productivity of horizontal well in tight oil reservoir was most sensitive to the start-up pressure gradient, and second most sensitive to the opening of artificial fractures. Enhancing the initial conductivity of artificial fractures was helpful to improve the productivity of tight oil wells. The influence of conductivity, spacing, number and length of artificial fractures should be considered comprehensively in fracturing design. Increasing the number of artificial fractures unilaterally could not achieve the expected increase in production.

Simulation of Oil-Water Flow in a Shale Reservoir Using a Radial Basis Function

Due to the difficulties associated with preprocessing activities and poor grid convergence when simulating shale reservoirs in the context of traditional grid methods,in this study an innovative two-phase oil-water seepage model is elaborated.The modes is based on the radial basis meshless approach and is used to determine the pressure and water saturation in a sample reservoir.Two-dimensional examples demonstrate that,when compared to the finite difference method,the radial basis function method produces less errors and is more accurate in predicting daily oil production.The radial basis function and finite difference methods provide errors of 5.78 percent and 7.5 percent,respectively,when estimating the daily oil production data for a sample well.A sensitivity analysis of the key parameters that affect the radial basis function’s computation outcomes is also presented.

KRYLOV SUBSPACE PROJECTION METHOD AND ITS APPLICATION ON OIL RESERVOIR SIMULATION

Krylov subspace projection methods are known to be highly efficient for solving large linear systems. Many different versions arise from different choices to the left and right subspaces. These methods were classified into two groups in terms of the different forms of matrix H-m, the main properties in applications and the new versions of these two types of methods were briefly reviewed, then one of the most efficient versions, GMRES method was applied to oil reservoir simulation. The block Pseudo-Elimination method was used to generate the preconditioned matrix. Numerical results show much better performance of this preconditioned techniques and the GMRES method than that of preconditioned ORTHMIN method, which is now in use in oil reservoir simulation. Finally, some limitations of Krylov subspace methods and some potential improvements to this type of methods are further presented.

Numerical Simulation of Oil-Water Two-Phase Flow in Low Permeability Tight Reservoirs Based on Weighted Least Squares Meshless Method

In response to the complex characteristics of actual low-permeability tight reservoirs,this study develops a meshless-based numerical simulation method for oil-water two-phase flow in these reservoirs,considering complex boundary shapes.Utilizing radial basis function point interpolation,the method approximates shape functions for unknown functions within the nodal influence domain.The shape functions constructed by the aforementioned meshless interpolation method haveδ-function properties,which facilitate the handling of essential aspects like the controlled bottom-hole flow pressure in horizontal wells.Moreover,the meshless method offers greater flexibility and freedom compared to grid cell discretization,making it simpler to discretize complex geometries.A variational principle for the flow control equation group is introduced using a weighted least squares meshless method,and the pressure distribution is solved implicitly.Example results demonstrate that the computational outcomes of the meshless point cloud model,which has a relatively small degree of freedom,are in close agreement with those of the Discrete Fracture Model(DFM)employing refined grid partitioning,with pressure calculation accuracy exceeding 98.2%.Compared to high-resolution grid-based computational methods,the meshless method can achieve a better balance between computational efficiency and accuracy.Additionally,the impact of fracture half-length on the productivity of horizontal wells is discussed.The results indicate that increasing the fracture half-length is an effective strategy for enhancing production from the perspective of cumulative oil production.

Productivity simulation of hydraulically fractured wells based on hybrid local grid refinement and embedded discrete fracture model

Using current Embedded Discrete Fracture Models(EDFM) to predict the productivity of fractured wells has some drawbacks, such as not supporting corner grid, low precision in the near wellbore zone, and disregarding the heterogeneity of conductivity brought by non-uniform sand concentration. An EDFM is developed based on the corner grid, which enables high efficient calculation of the transmissibility between the embedded fractures and matrix grids, and calculation of the permeability of each polygon in the embedded fractures by the lattice data of the artificial fracture aperture. On this basis, a coupling method of local grid refinement(LGR) and embedded discrete fracture model is designed, which is verified by comparing the calculation results with the Discrete Fracture Network(DFN) method and fitting the actual production data of the first hydraulically fractured well in Iraq. By using this method and orthogonal experimental design, the optimization of the parameters of the first multi-stage fractured horizontal well in the same block is completed. The results show the proposed method has theoretical and practical significance for improving the adaptability of EDFM and the accuracy of productivity prediction of fractured wells, and enables the coupling of fracture modeling and numerical productivity simulation at reservoir scale.

Numerical simulation of the impacts of water level variation on water age in Dahuofang Reservoir

The transport timescales were investigated in response to water level variation under different constant flow rates in Dahuofang Reservoir. The concept of water age was applied to quantifY the transport timescales. A three-dimensional hydrodynamic model was developed based on the Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code （EFDC）. The model was calibrated for water surface elevation and temperature profiles from April 1, 2008 to October 31, 2008. Comparisons of observed and modeled data showed that the model reproduced the water level fluctuation and thermal stratification during warm season and vertical mixing during cold season fairly well. The calibrated model was then applied to investigate the response of water age to water level changes in Dahuofang Reservoir. Model results showed that water age increases from confluence toward dam zone. In the vertical direction, the water age is relatively uniform at upstream and stratifies further downstream, with a larger value at bottom layer than at surface layer. Comparisons demonstrated that water level variation has a significant impact on transport timescales in the reservoir. The impact of water level drawdown on water age is stronger at bottom layer than at surface layer. Under high flow conditions, the water age decreases 0-20days at surface layer and 15-25 days at bottom layer. Under mean flow conditions, the water age decreases 20-30 days at surface layer and 30-50 days at bottom layer. Furthermore, the impact is minor in the upstream and increases further downstream. The vertical stratification of water age weakens as the water level decreases. This study provides a numerical tool to quantify the transport timescale in Dahuofang Reservoir and supports adaptive management of regional water resources by local authorities.

Towards full predictions of temperature dynamics in McNary Dam forebay using OpenFOAM

Hydroelectric facilities impact water temperature; low velocities in a reservoir increase residence time and enhance heat exchange in surface layers. In this study, an unsteady three-dimensional model was developed to predict the temperatm＇e dynamics in the McNary Dam forebay. The model is based on the open-source code OpenFOAM. RANS equations with the Boussinesq approximation were used to solve the flow field. A： realizable k-ε model that accounts for the production of wind turbulence was developed. Solar radiation and convective heat transfer at the free surface were included. The result of the model was compared with the field data collected on August 18, 2004. Changes in diurnal stratification were adequately predicted by the model. Observed vertical and lateral temperature distributions were accurately captured. Results indicate that the model can be used as a numerical tool to assess structural and operational alternatives to reduce the forebay temperature.

Production optimization under waterflooding with long short-term memory and metaheuristic algorithm

In petroleum domain,optimizing hydrocarbon production is essential because it does not only ensure the economic prospects of the petroleum companies,but also fulfills the increasing global demand of energy.However,applying numerical reservoir simulation(NRS)to optimize production can induce high computational footprint.Proxy models are suggested to alleviate this challenge because they are computationally less demanding and able to yield reasonably accurate results.In this paper,we demonstrated how a machine learning technique,namely long short-term memory(LSTM),was applied to develop proxies of a 3D reservoir model.Sampling techniques were employed to create numerous simulation cases which served as the training database to establish the proxies.Upon blind validating the trained proxies,we coupled these proxies with particle swarm optimization to conduct production optimization.Both training and blind validation results illustrated that the proxies had been excellently developed with coefficient of determination,R2 of 0.99.We also compared the optimization results produced by NRS and the proxies.The comparison recorded a good level of accuracy that was within 3%error.The proxies were also computationally 3 times faster than NRS.Hence,the proxies have served their practical purposes in this study.

The residual oil distribution regularity of low permeability oilfield

Study on the residual oil distribution regularity is the important thing during the middle and later stage of the oilfield.With understanding and development of oilfield,the research methods of remaining oil are varied.Well block A is a low permeability oilfield and complex relationship between injection wells and production wells.The well pattern has low control of sand body.Based on the characteristics and the geological and dynamic data,technology of integrated 3-D geological modeling with reservoir numerical simulation is ensured to study the residual oil.Finally,deposition facies and flowing units are studied to analyze the residual oil distribution regularity.As a result,the types of residual oil were confirmed and the basis for the following development adjustment of the well block is provided.

Distinguishing Oil and Water Layers in a Porous Cracked Medium by Interpreting Acoustic Logging Data on the Basis of Hudson Theory

During surveys, water layers may interfere with the detection of oil layers. In order to distinguish between oil and water layers in a porous cracked medium, research on the properties of cracks and oil and water layers and their relation to acoustic logging rules is essential. On the basis of Hudson＇s crack theory, we simulated oil and water layers in crack-porous medium with different crack parameters corresponding to the well-field response. We found that in a cracked medium with high crack angle or low number density of cracks, compressional and shear wave velocities are sensitive to crack characteristics; further, these velocities are more sensitive to crack characteristics when the waves propagate through the water layer than when they propagate through the oil layer. Compressional and shear wave velocities increase with an increase in crack angle： in the water layer, the increase is approximately linear. On comparing the full waveforms observed in the oil and water layers, we find that the amplitudes of most waves are higher in the water layer. Among the considered waves, the Stoneley wave suffers maximum amplitude attenuation in the oil layer. The maximum excitation intensity for oil layer is greater than that for the water layer. These results can guide further cracked media logging field exploration work.