Chemical-assisted MMP reduction on methane-oil systems:Implications for natural gas injection to enhanced oil recovery

technique.However,the main challenge in this process is the high minimum miscibility pressure(MMP)between natural gas and crude oil,which limits its application and recovery factor,especially in hightemperature reservoirs.Therefore,we present a novel investigation to quantify the effect of chemicalassisted MMP reduction on the oil recovery factor.Firstly,we measured the interfacial tension(IFT)of the methane-oil system in the presence of chemical or CO_(2) to calculate the MMP reduction at a constant temperature(373K)using the vanishing interfacial tension(VIT)method.Afterwards,we performed three coreflooding experiments to quantify the effect of MMP reduction on the oil recovery factor under different injection scenarios.The interfacial tension measurements show that adding a small fraction(1.5 wt%)of the tested surfactant(SOLOTERRA ME-6)achieved 9%of MMP reduction,while adding 20 wt%of CO_(2) to the methane yields 13%of MMP reduction.Then,the coreflooding results highlight the significance of achieving miscibility during gas injection,as the ultimate recovery factor increased from 65.5%under immiscible conditions to 77.2%using chemical-assisted methane,and to 79%using gas mixture after achieving near miscible condition.The results demonstrate the promising potential of the MMP reduction to signifi-cantly increase the oil recovery factor during gas injection.Furthermore,these results will likely expand the application envelop of the miscible gas injection,in addition to the environmental benefits of utilizing the produced gas by re-injection/recycling instead of flaring which contributes to reducing the greenhouse gas emissions.

A review of chemical-assisted minimum miscibility pressure reduction in CO_(2) injection for enhanced oil recovery

Miscible CO_(2)injection appears to be an important enhanced oil recovery technique for improving sweep efficiency and eliminating CO_(2)-oil interfacial tension resulting in up to 10%higher oil recovery compared to immiscible flooding,in addition to the environmental benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions through carbon capturing utilising and storage(CCUS).Moreover,this technique could be similarly applicable to natural gas and nitrogen projects to increase oil recovery and to reduce the associated gas flaring.However,miscible displacement may not be achievable for all reservoirs,in particular,reservoirs with high temperature where high injection pressure would be needed to reach miscibility which likely exceeds the formation fracture pressure.Therefore,to further achieve reservoirs’potential,there is a pressing need to explore a viable means to decrease the miscibility pressure,and thus expand the application envelop of miscible gas injection in reservoirs with high temperatures.In this work,we aim to provide insights into minimum miscibility pressure(MMP)reduction by adding chemicals into CO_(2)phase during injection.We achieved this objective by performing a comprehensive review on chemical-assisted MMP reduction using different chemical additives(e.g.,alcohols,fatty acids,surfactants)and different experimental methodologies.Previous experimental studies have shown that a fraction of chemical additives can yield up to 22%of MMP reduction in CO_(2)-oil system.Based on results analysis,surfactant based chemicals were found to be more efficient compared to alcohol based chemicals in reducing the interfacial tension in the CO_(2)-oil system.Based on the current experimental results,adding chemicals to improve the miscibility and reduce the MMP in the CO_(2)-oil system appears to be a promising technique to increase oil recovery while reducing operating cost.Selection of the effective chemical additives may help to expand the application of miscible gas injection to shallow and high temperature reservoirs.Furthermore,our review provides an overall framework to screen potential chemical additives and an injection strategy to be used for miscible displacement in CO_(2)and/or gas systems.

中国沉积学研究的现状和发展方向

我国沉积学研究已经不再固守传统的沉积岩石学 ,而是不断地开拓新的学科生长点 ,倡导沉积岩石学与其他多学科相互交叉、相互渗透 ,重点深化层序地层学、储层沉积学、造山带沉积学和沉积盆地分析等方面的研究 ,进一步开拓环境沉积学、大陆动力沉积学和全球变化沉积学等分支学科。沉积学的每一个研究领域都与社会发展密切相关 ,因此 ,可以预期 ,2 1世纪的沉积地质学将会再次进入繁盛时期。