Research progress and potential of new enhanced oil recovery methods in oilfield development

This paper reviews the basic research means for oilfield development and also the researches and tests of enhanced oil recovery(EOR)methods for mature oilfields and continental shale oil development,analyzes the problems of EOR methods,and proposes the relevant research prospects.The basic research means for oilfield development include in-situ acquisition of formation rock/fluid samples and non-destructive testing.The EOR methods for conventional and shale oil development are classified as improved water flooding(e.g.nano-water flooding),chemical flooding(e.g.low-concentration middle-phase micro-emulsion flooding),gas flooding(e.g.micro/nano bubble flooding),thermal recovery(e.g.air injection thermal-aided miscible flooding),and multi-cluster uniform fracturing/water-free fracturing,which are discussed in this paper for their mechanisms,approaches,and key technique researches and field tests.These methods have been studied with remarkable progress,and some achieved ideal results in field tests.Nonetheless,some problems still exist,such as inadequate research on mechanisms,imperfect matching technologies,and incomplete industrial chains.It is proposed to further strengthen the basic researches and expand the field tests,thereby driving the formation,promotion and application of new technologies.

Production evolution patterns and development stage division of waterflooding oilfields

The continuous growth of recoverable reserves in a waterflooding oilfield has a significant impact on the patterns of production evolution. A new production evolution model is established by improving the Weng Cycle model. With the new model, the statistical correspondence between the production decline stage and the reserve-production imbalance is clarified,and the correlation of water cut with the recovery percent of recoverable reserves is discussed, providing quantitative basis of reservoir engineering for dividing development stages of oilfield and defining mature oilfields. According to the statistics of oilfields in eastern China, the time point corresponding to the reserve-production balance coefficient dropping to less than 1dramatically is well correlated the beginning point of production decline, thus the time when the reserve-production balance coefficient drops dramatically can be taken as the initiation point of production decline stage. The research results show that the water cut and the recovery percent of recoverable reserves have a good statistical match in the high water cut stage, and it is more rational to take both the start point of production decline stage and the water cut of 90%(or the recovery percent of recoverable reserves of 80%) as the critical criteria for defining a mature oilfield. Five production evolution patterns can be summarized as follows: growth–peak plateau–stepped decline, growth–stepped stabilizing–stepped decline, growth–stepped stabilizing–rapid decline, growth–peak plateau–rapid decline, and growth–continuous decline.