scholarly journals Experimental and Modelling Study of Gravity Drainage in a Three-Block System

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamidreza Erfani ◽  
Abtin Karimi Malekabadi ◽  
Mohammad Hossein Ghazanfari ◽  
Behzad Rostami
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Model ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Tilt Angle ◽  
Free Fall ◽  
Recovery Factor ◽  
Gravity Drainage ◽  
Horizontal Fracture ◽  
Block System ◽  
Matrix Blocks

AbstractGravity drainage is known as the controlling mechanism of oil recovery in naturally fractured reservoirs. The efficiency of this mechanism is controlled by block-to-block interactions through capillary continuity and/or reinfiltration processes. In this study, at first, several free-fall gravity drainage experiments were conducted on a well-designed three-block apparatus and the role of tilt angle, spacers’ permeability, wettability and effective contact area (representing a different status of the block-to-block interactions between matrix blocks) on the recovery efficiency were investigated. Then, an experimental-based numerical model of free-fall gravity drainage process was developed, validated and used for monitoring the saturation profiles along with the matrix blocks. Results showed that gas wetting condition of horizontal fracture weakens the capillary continuity and in consequence decreases the recovery factor in comparison with the original liquid wetting condition. Moreover, higher spacers’ permeability increases oil recovery at early times, while it decreases the ultimate recovery factor. Tilt angle from the vertical axis decreases recovery factor, due to greater connectivity of matrix blocks to vertical fracture and consequent channelling. Decreasing horizontal fracture aperture decreases recovery at early times but increases the ultimate recovery due to a greater extent of capillary continuity between the adjacent blocks. Well match observed between the numerical model results and the experimental data of oil recovery makes the COMSOL multiphysics model attractive for application in multi-blocks fractured systems considering block-to-block interactions. The findings of this research improve our understanding of the role of different fracture properties on the block-to-block interactions and how they change the ultimate recovery of a multi-block system.

Steam-on-a-chip for oil recovery: the role of alkaline additives in steam assisted gravity drainage

Lab on a Chip ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 3832 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas W. de Haas ◽  
Hossein Fadaei ◽  
Uriel Guerrero ◽  
David Sinton
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Gravity Drainage ◽  
Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage

scholarly journals Gravity Drainage Mechanism in Naturally Fractured Carbonate Reservoirs; Review and Application

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 3699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faisal Awad Aljuboori ◽  
Jang Hyun Lee ◽  
Khaled A. Elraies ◽  
Karl D. Stephen
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Model ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Fractured Reservoirs ◽  
Carbonate Reservoir ◽  
Real Field ◽  
Gravity Drainage ◽  
Naturally Fractured ◽  
Fractured Carbonate ◽  
Matrix Blocks ◽  
The Matrix

Gravity drainage is one of the essential recovery mechanisms in naturally fractured reservoirs. Several mathematical formulas have been proposed to simulate the drainage process using the dual-porosity model. Nevertheless, they were varied in their abilities to capture the real saturation profiles and recovery speed in the reservoir. Therefore, understanding each mathematical model can help in deciding the best gravity model that suits each reservoir case. Real field data from a naturally fractured carbonate reservoir from the Middle East have used to examine the performance of various gravity equations. The reservoir represents a gas–oil system and has four decades of production history, which provided the required mean to evaluate the performance of each gravity model. The simulation outcomes demonstrated remarkable differences in the oil and gas saturation profile and in the oil recovery speed from the matrix blocks, which attributed to a different definition of the flow potential in the vertical direction. Moreover, a sensitivity study showed that some matrix parameters such as block height and vertical permeability exhibited a different behavior and effectiveness in each gravity model, which highlighted the associated uncertainty to the possible range that often used in the simulation. These parameters should be modelled accurately to avoid overestimation of the oil recovery from the matrix blocks, recovery speed, and to capture the advanced gas front in the oil zone.

scholarly journals A Single-Well Gas-Assisted Gravity Drainage Enhanced Oil Recovery Process for U.S. Deepwater Gulf of Mexico Operations

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1743
Author(s):  
Bikash D. Saikia ◽  
Dandina N. Rao
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Enhanced Oil Recovery ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Recovery Process ◽  
Recovery Factor ◽  
Gravity Drainage ◽  
Effective Manner ◽  
Single Well

The U.S. Deepwater Gulf of Mexico (DGOM) area that has some of the most prolific oil reservoirs is still awaiting the development of a viable enhanced oil recovery (EOR) process. Without it, DGOM will remain severely untapped. Exorbitant well costs, in excess of $200 million, preclude having extensive injection patterns, commonly used in EOR design frameworks. Aside from injection patterns, even operationally waterflooding has met with significant challenges because of injectivity issues in these over pressurized turbidities. The gas-assisted gravity drainage (GAGD) EOR process, that holds promise for deepwater environments because of lesser injectivity issues, among others, has been adapted in this work to overcome these limitations. A novel design in the form of a single well—gas assisted gravity drainage (SW-GAGD) process, has been demonstrated to emulate the benefits of a GAGD process in a cost-effective manner. Unlike conventional GAGD processes, which need multiple injectors and separate horizontal production wells, the SW-GAGD process just uses a single well for injection and well production. The performance of the process has been established using partially scaled visual glass models based on dimensional analyses for scale up of the process. The recovery factor has been shown to be in the range of 65–80% in the immiscible mode alone, and the process is orders of magnitude faster than natural gravity drainage. A toe-to-heel configuration of the SW-GAGD process has also been tested and for the configuration to be immune from reservoir layering, the toe of the well should ideally end at the top of the payzone. Better sweep of the payzone and consequent high recovery factor of 80% OOIP was observed, if the heel part of the bottom lateral is located in a lower permeability zone.

Experimental Study of Polymer Flooding in Fractured Systems Using Five-Spot Glass Micromodel: The Role of Fracture Geometrical Properties

2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 689-705 ◽  
Author(s):  
Behbood Abedi ◽  
Mohammad Hossein Ghazanfari ◽  
Riyaz Kharrat
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Polymer Flooding ◽  
Recovery Factor ◽  
Reservoir Rock ◽  
Water Flooding ◽  
Recovery Method ◽  
Geometrical Properties ◽  
Fracture Orientation ◽  
Glass Micromodel

Water flooding is being widely used in the petroleum industry and has been considered as a simple inexpensive secondary recovery method. But in fractured formations, existence of fracture system in reservoir rock induces an adverse effect on oil recovery by water flooding. Polymer flooding has been successfully applied as an alternative enhanced oil recovery method in fractured formations. But, the role of fracture geometrical properties on macroscopic efficiency of polymer flooding is not yet well-understood, especially in fractured five-spot systems. In this work five-spot glass micromodel, because of micro-visibility, ease of multiple experimentations and also presence of the unexplored issues, was used to experimentally investigate the influence of fracture geometrical characteristics such as fracture orientation, fracture spacing, fracture overlap and etc on the macroscopic efficiency of polymer flooding. The tests were performed on the fractured models which are initially saturated with the crude oil at fixed flow rate conditions and in a horizontally mounting. The results revealed that the macroscopic efficiency of polymer flooding depends on fracture geometrical properties. Fracture orientation showed more imposing effect than other fracture geometrical properties, and fracture with 45 degree inclination to the mean flow direction, gives greatest oil recovery factor. Large spacing fractures give more recovery than small spacing ones and in case of overlapping, fractures with less overlapping help polymer to better propagate which could be related to their greater effective fracture length. This pre-called effect could be responsible to show how continuity and width to length ratio of fractures affect recovery factor, less fracture discontinuity as well as more length to width ratio of fracture give more swept zone. Also, increasing number of fractures decreases oil recovery factor. The results of this work can be helpful to better understanding the role of fracture geometrical properties on macroscopic efficiency of polymer flooding in five-spot fractured systems.

Effect of Dip Angle on Recovery Factor During Free Fall Gravity Drainage and Forced Gravity Drainage

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Hasanzadeh ◽  
R. Azin ◽  
R. Fatehi ◽  
S. Zendehboudi
Keyword(s):  
Free Fall ◽  
Recovery Factor ◽  
Gravity Drainage ◽  
Dip Angle

scholarly journals The effect of gravity drainage mechanism on oil recovery by reservoir simulation; a case study in an Iranian highly fractured reservoir

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Zobeidi ◽  
M. Mohammad-Shafie ◽  
M. Ganjeh-Ghazvini
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Reservoir Simulation ◽  
Fractured Reservoirs ◽  
Saturation Pressure ◽  
Oil Field ◽  
Recovery Factor ◽  
Real Field ◽  
Gravity Drainage ◽  
Special Importance ◽  
Fractured Reservoir

AbstractA comprehensive reservoir simulation study was performed on an oil field that had a wide fracture network and could be considered a typical example of highly fractured reservoirs in Iran. This field is located in southwest of Iran in Zagros sedimentary basin among several neighborhood fields with relatively considerable fractured networks. In this reservoir, the pressure drops below the saturation pressure and causes the formation of a secondary gas cap. This can help to better assess the gravity drainage phenomenon. We decided to investigate and track the effect of gravity drainage mechanism on the recovery factor of oil production in this field. In this study, after/before the implementation of gas injection scenarios with different discharges, the contribution of gravity drainage mechanism to the recovery factor was found more than 50%. Considering that a relatively large number of studies have been conducted on this field simultaneously with the growth of information from different aspects and this study is the last and most comprehensive study and also the results are extracted from real field data using existing reservoir simulators, it is of special importance and can be used by researchers.

Immiscible CO2-Assisted Gravity Drainage Process for Enhancing Oil Recovery in Bottom Water Drive reservoir

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 60-66
Author(s):  
Dahlia A. Al-Obaidi ◽  
Mohammed S. Al-Jawad
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Bottom Water ◽  
Physical Models ◽  
Recovery Factor ◽  
Gravity Drainage ◽  
Ambient Conditions ◽  
Water Contact ◽  
3D Simulation Model ◽  
Water Cut ◽  
Enhance Oil Recovery

The CO2-Assisted Gravity Drainage process (GAGD) has been introduced to become one of the mostinfluential process to enhance oil recovery (EOR) methods in both secondary and tertiary recovery through immiscibleand miscible mode. Its advantages came from the ability of this process to provide gravity-stable oil displacement forenhancing oil recovery. Vertical injectors for CO2 gas have been placed at the crest of the pay zone to form a gas capwhich drain the oil towards the horizontal producing oil wells located above the oil-water-contact. The advantage ofhorizontal well is to provide big drainage area and small pressure drawdown due to the long penetration. Manysimulation and physical models of CO2-AGD process have been implemented at reservoir and ambient conditions tostudy the effect of this method to improve oil recovery and to examine the most parameters that control the CO2-AGDprocess. The CO2-AGD process has been developed and tested to increase oil recovery in reservoirs with bottom waterdrive and strong water coning tendencies. In this study, a scaled prototype 3D simulation model with bottom waterdrive was used for CO2-assisted gravity drainage. The CO2-AGD process performance was studied. Also the effects ofbottom water drive on the performance of immiscible CO2 assisted gravity drainage (enhanced oil recovery and watercut) was investigated. Four different statements scenarios through CO2-AGD process were implemented. Resultsrevealed that: ultimate oil recovery factor increases considerably when implemented CO2-AGD process (from 13.5%to 84.3%). Recovery factor rises with increasing the activity of bottom water drive (from 77.5% to 84.3%). Also,GAGD process provides better reservoir pressure maintenance to keep water cut near 0% limit until gas flood frontreaches the production well if the aquifer is active, and stays near 0% limit at all prediction period for limited waterdrive.

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