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.

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.

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.

Displacement behavior and mechanism of long-term water flooding in sandstone oil reservoirs

Sandstone oil reservoirs with huge bottom water and high permeability are generally developed with high flow rate.After long-term water flooding(LTWF),the water flooding characteristics are quite different from that of original reservoir.In this paper,the effects of the PV number,viscosity,and displacement rate during LTWF are studied through experiments.The mechanism is analyzed based on analysis of changes in oil composition,rock mineral composition and wettability.The oil-water relative permeability curves,oil recovery and wettability were obtained with new experiments methods,which avoids the oil metering error by measuring oil and water separately.The research indicates that when the viscosity increases,the water phase permeability decreases,the residual oil saturation increases,and the water content rate increases earlier.A higher water flooding rate results in a higher ultimate recovery.A higher asphaltene content results in a higher viscosity and more oil-wet reservoir conditions.After LTWF,the wettability tends to water-wet,which is more favorable for heavy oil recovery.Moreover,LTWF reduces the clay content,which creates a more water-wet surface and a larger reservoir pore throat environment.This research provides insightful characteristics of offshore sandstone oil reservoirs,which can be used to enhance oil recovery.

Electrical responses and classification of complex waterflooded layers in carbonate reservoirs: A case study of Zananor Oilfield, Kazakhstan

Experiments of electrical responses of waterflooded layers were carried out on porous,fractured,porous-fractured and composite cores taken from carbonate reservoirs in the Zananor Oilfield,Kazakhstan to find out the effects of injected water salinity on electrical responses of carbonate reservoirs.On the basis of the experimental results and the mathematical model of calculating oil-water relative permeability of porous reservoirs by resistivity and the relative permeability model of two-phase flow in fractured reservoirs,the classification standards of water-flooded layers suitable for carbonate reservoirs with complex pore structure were established.The results show that the salinity of injected water is the main factor affecting the resistivity of carbonate reservoir.When low salinity water(fresh water)is injected,the relationship curve between resistivity and water saturation is U-shaped.When high salinity water(salt water)is injected,the curve is L-shaped.The classification criteria of water-flooded layers for carbonate reservoirs are as follows:(1)In porous reservoirs,the water cut(fw)is less than or equal to 5%in oil layers,5%–20%in weak water-flooded layers,20%–50%in moderately water-flooded layers,and greater than 50%in strong water-flooded layers.(2)For fractured,porous-fractured and composite reservoirs,the oil layers,weakly water-flooded layers,moderately water-flooded layers,and severely water-flooded layers have a water content of less than or equal to 5%,5%and 10%,10%to 50%,and larger than 50%respectively.

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.

CO2 flooding strategy to enhance heavy oil recovery

CO_(2) flooding is one of the most promising techniques to enhance both light and heavy oil recovery.In light oil recovery,the production pressure in CO_(2) flooding in general keeps constant in order to maintain the miscibility of injected CO_(2) and crude oil;while in heavy oil recovery,a depleting pressure scheme may be able to induce foamy oil flow,thus the oil recovery could be further enhanced.In this study,different pressure control schemes were tested by 1-D core-flooding experiments to obtain an optimized one.Numerical simulations were conducted to history match all experimental data to understand the mechanisms and characteristics of different CO_(2) flooding strategies.For the core-flooding experiments,1500 mD sandstone cores,formation brine and a heavy oil sample with a viscosity of about 869.3 cp at reservoir condition(55℃ and 11 MPa)were used.Before each CO_(2) flooding test,early stage water-flooding was conducted until the water cut reached 90%.Different CO_(2) injection rates and production pressure control strategies were tested through core-flooding experiments.Experimental results indicated that a slower CO_(2) injection rate(2 ml/min)led to a higher recovery factor from 31.1%to 36.7%,compared with a high CO_(2) injection rate of 7 ml/min;for the effects of different production strategies,a constant production pressure at the production port yielded a recovery factor of 31.1%;while a pressure depletion with 47.2 kPa/min at the production port yielded 7%more oil recovery;and the best pressure control scheme in which the production pressure keeping constant during CO_(2) injection period,then depleting the model pressure with the injector shut-in yielded a recovery factor of 42.5%of the initial OOIP.For the numerical simulations study,the same oil relative permeability curve was applied to match the experimental results to all tests.Different gas relative permeability curves were obtained when the production pressure schemes are different.A much lower gas relative permeability curve and a higher critical gas saturation were achieved in the best pressure control scheme case compared to other cases.The lower gas relative permeability curve indicates that foamy oil was formed in the pressure depletion processes.Through this study,it is suggested that the pressure control scheme can be optimized in order to maximize the CO_(2) injection performance for enhanced heavy oil recovery.

REFLEXION AND TRANSMISSION OF WATER WAVES BY A THIN CURVED PERMEABLE BARRIER

Using the panel method, the problem of reflexion and transmission of water waves by a thin permeable barrier is studied in this paper. It's found that a well- designed curved porous plate has an excellent ability in trapping waves within a wide range of frequency.