Effect of Initial Water Saturation on Spontaneous Water Imbibition

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kewen Li ◽  
Kevin Chow ◽  
Roland N. Horne
Keyword(s):  
Water Saturation ◽  
Initial Water ◽  
Water Imbibition

Pore-Scale Modeling of Wettability Effects and Their Influence on Oil Recovery

1999 ◽  
Vol 2 (01) ◽  
pp. 25-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.B. Dixit ◽  
S.R. McDougall ◽  
K.S. Sorbie ◽  
J.S. Buckley
Keyword(s):  
Crude Oil ◽  
Capillary Pressure ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Aging Process ◽  
Water Saturation ◽  
Contact Angles ◽  
Initial Water ◽  
Water Imbibition ◽  
Pore Level ◽  
Capillary Pressure Curves

Summary The wettability of a crude oil/brine/rock system influences both the form of petrophysical parameters (e.g., Pc and krw/kro) and the structure and distribution of remaining oil after secondary recovery. This latter issue is of central importance for improved oil recovery since it represents the "target" oil for any IOR process. In the present study, we have developed a three-dimensional network model to derive capillary pressure curves from nonuniformly wetted (mixed and fractionally wet) systems. The model initially considers primary drainage and the aging process leading to wettability alterations. This is then followed by simulations of spontaneous water imbibition, forced water drive, spontaneous oil imbibition and forced oil drive—i.e., we consider a complete flooding sequence characteristic of wettability experiments. The model takes into account many pore level flow phenomena such as film flow along wetting phase clusters, trapping of wetting and nonwetting phases by snapoff and bypassing. We also consider realistic variations in advancing and receding contact angles. There is a discussion of the effects of additional parameters such as the fraction of oil-wet pores, mean coordination number and pore size distribution upon fractionally and mixed wet capillary pressure curves. Moreover, we calculate Amott oil and water indices using the simulated curves. Results indicate that oil recovery via water imbibition in weakly water-wet cores can often exceed that obtained from strongly water-wet samples. Such an effect has been observed experimentally in the past. The basic physics governing this enhancement in spontaneous water imbibition can be explained using the concept of a capillarity surface. Based on these theoretical calculations, we propose a general "regime based" theory of wettability classification and analysis. We classify a range of experimentally observed and apparently inconsistent waterflood recovery trends into various regimes, depending upon the structure of the underlying oil- and water-wet pore clusters and the distribution of contact angles. Using this approach, numerous published experimental Amott indices and waterflood data from a variety of core/crude oil/brine systems are analyzed. Introduction In crude oil/brine/rock (COBR) systems, pore level displacements of oil and brine and hence the corresponding petrophysical flow parameters (e.g., Pc and krw/kro) describing these displacements are governed by the pore geometry, topology and wettability of the system. A number of excellent review papers are available that describe experimental investigations of the effect of wettability on capillary pressure and oil-water relative permeability curves.1–5 In COBR systems, wettability alterations depend upon the mineralogical composition of the rock, pH and/or composition of the brine, crude oil composition, initial water saturation, reservoir temperature, etc.6–12 Therefore, in recent years, interest in restoring the wettability of reservoir core using crude oil and formation brine has greatly increased.3,4,13,14 In this approach, cleaned reservoir core is first saturated with brine and then oil flooded to initial water saturation using crude oil. The core containing crude oil and brine is then aged to alter its wettability state. Wettability measurements, such as Amott and USBM tests, and waterflood experiments are then typically conducted on the aged core. This entire process broadly mimics the actual flow sequences in the reservoir; consequently, the wettability alterations are more realistic than those achieved using chemical treatment methods. During the aging process, wettability may be altered to vastly different degrees depending upon many factors, including those mentioned above. In addition, aging time, thickness of existing water films and wetting film disjoining pressure isotherms also play important roles. Hence, the final wettability state of a re-conditioned core will generally be case specific.

Influence of Initial Water Saturation on Recovery by Spontaneous Imbibition in Gas/Water/Rock Systems and the Calculation of Relative Permeability

2006 ◽  
Vol 9 (04) ◽  
pp. 295-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kewen Li ◽  
Kevin Chow ◽  
Roland N. Horne
Keyword(s):  
Relative Permeability ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Water Saturation ◽  
Water Injection ◽  
Spontaneous Imbibition ◽  
Rock Properties ◽  
Initial Water ◽  
Gas Recovery ◽  
Water Imbibition ◽  
Theoretical Predictions

Summary It has been a challenge to understand why recovery by spontaneous imbibition could both increase and decrease with initial water saturation. To this end, mathematical models were developed with porosity, permeability, viscosity, relative permeability, capillary pressure, and initial water saturation included. These equations foresee that recovery and imbibition rate can increase, remain unchanged, or decrease with an increase in initial water saturation, depending on rock properties, the quantity of residual gas saturation, the range of initial water saturation, and the units used in the definitions of gas recovery and imbibition rate. The theoretical predictions were verified experimentally by conducting spontaneous water imbibition at five different initial water saturations, ranging from 0 to approximately 50%. The effects of initial water saturation on residual saturation, relative permeability, capillary pressure, imbibition rate, and recovery in gas/water/rock systems by cocurrent spontaneous imbibition were investigated both theoretically and experimentally. Water-phase relative permeabilities and capillary pressures were calculated with the experimental data of spontaneous imbibition. Experimental results in different rocks were compared. Introduction Spontaneous water imbibition is an important mechanism during water injection. Prediction of recovery and imbibition rate by spontaneous water imbibition is essential to evaluate the feasibility and the performance of water injection. For example, is water injection effective in the case of high initial water saturation in reservoirs? Answers to such a question may be found by investigating the effect of initial water saturation on spontaneous water imbibition. It has been observed experimentally that initial water saturation affects recovery and production rate significantly (Blair 1964; Zhou et al. 2000; Viksund et al. 1998; Cil et al. 1998; Tong et al. 2001; Li and Firoozabadi 2000; Akin et al. 2000). However, the experimental observations from different authors (Zhou et al. 2000; Cil et al. 1998; Li and Firoozabadi 2000; Akin et al. 2000) are not consistent. On the other hand, few studies have investigated the effect of initial water saturation on recovery and imbibition rate theoretically, especially in gas reservoirs. Using numerical-simulation techniques, Blair (1964) found that the quantity and the rate of oil produced after a given period of imbibition increased with a decrease in initial water saturation for countercurrent spontaneous imbibition. Zhou et al. (2000) found that both imbibition rate and final oil recovery in terms of oil originally in place (OOIP) increased with an increase in initial water saturation, whereas oil recovery by waterflooding decreased. Viksund et al. (1998) found that the final oil recovery (OOIP) by spontaneous water imbibition in Berea sandstone showed little variation with a change in initial water saturation from 0 to approximately 30%. For the chalk samples tested by Viksund et al. (1998), the imbibition rate first increased with an increase in initial water saturation and then decreased slightly as initial water saturation increased above 34%.Cil et al. (1998) reported that the oil recovery (in terms of recoverable oil reserves) for zero and 20% initial water saturation showed insignificant differences in behavior. However, the oil recovery for initial water saturation above 20% increased with an increase in initial water saturation. Li and Firoozabadi (2000) found that the final gas recovery in the units of gas originally in place (GOIP) by spontaneous imbibition decreased with an increase in initial water saturation in both gas/oil/rock and gas/water/rock systems. The imbibition rate (GOIP/min) increased with an increase in initial water saturation at early time but decreased at later time. Akin et al. (2000) found that the residual oil saturation was unaffected significantly by initial water saturation. In this study, equations, derived theoretically, were used to study the effect of initial water saturation on gas recovery and imbibition rate. The equations correlate recovery, imbibition rate, initial water saturation, rock/fluid properties, and other parameters. Experiments of spontaneous water imbibition in gas-saturated rocks were conducted to confirm the theoretical predictions. The effect of rock properties on gas recovery and imbibition rate was also studied. An X-ray CT scanner was used to monitor the distribution of the initial water saturation to confirm that the initial distribution of the water saturation was uniform. In this study, we only focused on cocurrent spontaneous imbibition. It was assumed that there were no chemical reactions or mass transfer between gas and liquid.

Role of molecular diffusion in the recovery of water flood residual oil

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chem Int
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Water Saturation ◽  
Fractured Reservoirs ◽  
Naturally Fractured Reservoirs ◽  
Gravity Drainage ◽  
Co2 Injection ◽  
Initial Water ◽  
Water Imbibition ◽  
Naturally Fractured ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Co2

Traditionally, carbon dioxide (CO2) injection has been considered an inefficient method for enhancing oil recovery from naturally fractured reservoirs. Obviously, it would be useful to experimentally investigate the efficiency of waterflooding naturally fractured reservoirs followed by carbon dioxide (CO2) injection. This issue was investigated by performing water imbibition followed by CO2 gravity drainage experiments on artificially fractured cores at reservoir conditions. The experiments were designed to illustrate the actual process of waterflooding and CO2 gravity drainage in a naturally fractured reservoir in the Brass Area, Bayelsa. The results demonstrate that CO2 gravity drainage could significantly increase oil recovery after a waterflood. During the experiments, the effects of different parameters such as permeability, initial water saturation and injection scheme was also examined. It was found that the efficiency of the CO2 gravity drainage decrease as the rock permeability decreases and the initial water saturation increases. Cyclic CO2 injection helped to improve oil recovery during the CO2 gravity drainage process which alters the water imbibition. Oil samples produced in the experiment were analyzed using gas chromatography to determine the mechanism of CO2-improved oil production from tight matrix blocks. The results show that lighter components are extracted and produced early in the test. The results of these experiments validate the premises that CO2 could be used to recover oil from a tight and unconfined matrix efficiently.

Calculation of Oil Displacement by Countercurrent Water Imbibition

1964 ◽  
Vol 4 (03) ◽  
pp. 195-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.M. Blair
Keyword(s):  
Porous Medium ◽  
Capillary Pressure ◽  
Relative Permeability ◽  
Water Saturation ◽  
Pressure Gradients ◽  
Oil Viscosity ◽  
Initial Water ◽  
Water Imbibition ◽  
Pressure Profiles ◽  
Water Viscosity

Abstract This paper presents numerical solutions of the equations describing the imbibition of water and the countercurrent flow of oil in porous rocks. The imbibition process is of practical importance in recovering oil from heterogeneous formations and has been studied principally by experimental means. Calculations were made for imbibition of water into both linear and radial systems. Imbibition in the linear systems was allowed to take place through one open, or permeable, face of the porous medium studied. In the radial system, water was imbibed inward from the outer radius. The effects on rate of imbibition of varying the capillary pressure and relative permeability curves, oil viscosity and the initial water saturation were computed. For each case studied, the rate of water imbibition and the saturation and pressure profiles were calculated as functions of time. The results of these calculations indicate that, for the porous medium studied, the time required to imbibe a fixed volume of water of a certain viscosity is approximately proportional to the square root of the viscosity of the reservoir oil whenever the oil viscosity is greater than the water viscosity. Results are also presented illustrating the effects on rate of imbibition of the other variables studied. Introduction The process of imbibition, or spontaneous flow of fluids in porous media under the influence of capillary pressure gradient s, occurs wherever there exist in permeable rock capillary pressure gradients which are not exactly balanced by opposing pressure gradients (such as those resulting from the influence of gravity). The importance of such capillary movement in the displacement of oil by water or gas was recognized in early investigations and described by Leverett, Lewis and True in 1942. Methods advanced by these authors for studying the process using dynamically scaled models were rendered more general and flexible by the research of later workers. The influence of capillary forces in laboratory water floods has also been discussed by several authors. While imbibition plays a very important role in the recovery of oil from normal reservoirs, Brownscombe and Dyes pointed out that imbibition might be the dominant displacement process in water flooding reservoirs characterized by drastic variations in permeability, such as in fractured- matrix reservoirs. In water-wet, fractured-matrix reservoirs, water will be imbibed from fractures into the matrix with a countercurrent expulsion of oil into the fractures. If the imbibition occurs at a sufficiently rapid rate, a very successful water flood can result; if the imbibition proceeds slowly the project might not be economically attractive. Scaled-model studies have demonstrated the vital importance of imbibition in secondary recovery in fractured reservoirs. It is therefore important in the evaluation of waterflooding prospects to develop a thorough understanding of the quantitative relationships of the factors which control the rapidity of capillary imbibition. The imbibition process serves reservoir engineers in still another important way by providing a technique for studying the wettability of reservoir core samples. Such experiments are usually conducted by observing the rate of expulsion of oil or water from core samples submerged in the appropriate fluid. Several papers have been published on the experimental techniques involved. Although Handy has recently published a method for calculating capillary pressures from experiments with gas-saturated cores, it has not yet been possible to deduce quantitative information regarding water-oil relative permeability and capillary pressure characteristics of the rock from the experimental results. Thus a technique is needed for studying the quantitative dependence of imbibition rate on oil and water viscosity, initial water saturation, relative permeability-saturation, and capillary pressure-saturation relations. The development of such information, including saturation and pressure profiles by laboratory experiments, would be very difficult. SPEJ P. 195ˆ

The Effect of Initial Water Saturation on Enhanced Water Imbibition by Surfactant for Fractured Tight Porous Media

SPE Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingyuan Wang ◽  
Francisco J. Argüelles-Vivas ◽  
Gayan A. Abeykoon ◽  
Ryosuke Okuno
Keyword(s):  
Porous Media ◽  
Water Saturation ◽  
Initial Water ◽  
Water Imbibition ◽  
Tight Porous Media

Residual Gas Saturation Revisited

2001 ◽  
Vol 4 (06) ◽  
pp. 467-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Apostolos Kantzas ◽  
Minghua Ding ◽  
Jong Lee
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Water Saturation ◽  
Spontaneous Imbibition ◽  
Gas Reservoirs ◽  
Initial Water ◽  
Gas Saturation ◽  
Water Imbibition ◽  
Residual Gas ◽  
Trapped Gas ◽  
Residual Gas Saturation

Summary The determination of residual gas saturation in gas reservoirs from long spontaneous and forced-imbibition tests is addressed in this paper. It is customarily assumed that when a gas reservoir is overlaying an aquifer, water will imbibe into the gas-saturated zone with the onset of gas production. The process of gas displacement by water will lead to forced imbibition in areas of high drawdown and spontaneous imbibition in areas of low drawdown. It is further assumed that in the bulk of the reservoir, spontaneous imbibition will prevail and the reservoir will be water-wet. A final assumption is that the gas behaves as an incompressible fluid. All these assumptions are challenged in this paper. A series of experiments is presented in which it is demonstrated that the residual gas saturation obtained by a short imbibition test is not necessarily the correct residual gas saturation. Imbibition tests by different methods yield very different results, while saturation history and core cleaning also seem to have a strong effect on the determination of residual gas saturation. It was found, in some cases, that the residual gas by spontaneous imbibition was unreasonably high. This was attributed to weak wetting conditions of the core (no water pull by imbibition). It is expected that this work will shed some new light on an old, but not-so-well-understood, topic. Introduction When a porous medium is partially or fully saturated with a nonwetting phase, and a wetting phase is allowed to invade the porous medium, the process is called imbibition. For the problem addressed in this work, the nonwetting phase is assumed to be gas, and the wetting phase is assumed to be the aquifer water. If the medium is dry and the water is imbibing, then the imbibition is primary (Swi=0). If the water is already in the medium, the imbibition is secondary (Swi>0). If there is no driving force other than the affinity to wet, the imbibition is spontaneous. If there is any other positive pressure gradient, the imbibition is called forced. Numerous papers have been written on the subject of residual oil saturation from imbibition, but fewer have been prepared on the subject of residual gas saturation from imbibition. The common perception is that many of the principles that cover oil and gas reservoirs are the same. Agarwal1 addressed the relationship between initial and final gas saturation from an empirical perspective. He worked with 320 imbibition experiments and segmented the database to develop curve fits for common rock classifications. Land2 noted that available data seemed to fit very well to an empirical functional form given asEquation 1 In this model, the only free parameter is the maximum observable trapped nonwetting phase saturation corresponding to Sgr (Sgi=1). This expression does not predict residual phase saturation, only how residual saturation scales with initial saturation. Zhou et al.3 studied the effect of wettability, initial water saturation, and aging time on oil recovery by spontaneous imbibition and waterflooding. A correlation between water wetness and oil recovery by waterflooding and spontaneous imbibition was observed. Geffen et al.4 investigated some factors that affect the residual gas saturation, such as flooding rate, static pressure, temperature, sample size, and saturation conditions before flooding. They found that water imbibition on dry-plug experiments was different from waterflooding experiments with connate water. However, they concluded that the residual gas saturation from the two types of experiments was essentially the same. Keelan and Pugh5 concluded that trapped gas saturation existed after gas displacement by wetting-phase imbibition in carbonate reservoirs. Their experiments showed that the trapped gas varied with initial gas in place and that it was a function of rock type. Fishlock et al.6 investigated the residual gas saturation as a function of pressure. They focused on the mobilization of residual gas by blowdown. Apparently, the trapped gas did not become mobile immediately as it expanded. The gas saturation had to increase appreciably to a critical value for gas remobilization. Tang and Morrow7 introduced the effect of composition on the microscopic displacement efficiency of oil recovery by waterflooding and spontaneous imbibition. They concluded that the cation valency was important to crude/oil/rock interactions. Chierici et al.8 tested whether a reliable value of reserves could be obtained from reservoir past-production performance by analyzing results from six gasfield experiments. They concluded that different gas reservoir aquifer systems could show the same pressure performance in response to a given production schedule. Baldwin and Spinler9 investigated residual oil saturation starting from different initial water saturation using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). They concluded that at low initial water saturation, the presence of a significant waterfront during spontaneous water imbibition indicated that the rate of water transport was less than that of oil. At high initial water saturation, the more uniform saturation change during spontaneous water imbibition indicated that the rate of water transport was greater than that of oil. The pattern of spontaneous imbibition depended on sample wettability, with less effect from frontal movement in less water-wet samples. Pow et al.10 addressed the imbibition of water in fractured gas reservoirs. Field and laboratory information suggested that a large amount of gas was trapped through fast water imbibition through the fractures and premature water breakthrough. The postulation was made that such gas reservoirs would produce this gas if and when the bypassed gas was allowed to flow to the production intervals under capillary-controlled action. The question of whether the rate of imbibition could enhance the production of this trapped gas was raised. Preliminary experiments on full-diameter core pieces showed that the rates of imbibition were extremely slow and that if the different imbibition experiments were performed in full-diameter plugs, the duration of the experiments would be prohibitively long. These experiments formulated the experimental strategy presented in the following sections.

A Unified Parameter to Represent Reservoir Heterogeneity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nandana Ramabhadra Agastya
Keyword(s):  
Water Saturation ◽  
Pressure Ratio ◽  
Universal Method ◽  
Permeability Ratio ◽  
Initial Water ◽  
Vertical Permeability ◽  
Radar Chart ◽  
Horizontal Permeability ◽  
Water Cut ◽  
Thief Zone

Abstract We aim to find a universal method and/or parameter to quantify impact of overall heterogeneity on waterflood performance. For this purpose, we combined the Lorenz coefficient, horizontal permeability to vertical permeability ratio, and thief zone permeability to average permeability ratio, with a radar chart. The area of the radar chart serves as a single parameter to rank reservoirs according to heterogeneity, and correlates to waterflood performance. The parameters investigated are vertical and horizontal permeability. Average porosity, initial water saturation, and initial diagonal pressure ratio are kept constant. Computer based experiments are used over the course of this entire research. We conducted permeability studies that demonstrate the effects of thief zones and crossflow. After normalizing these parameters into a number between 0 and 1, we then plot them on a radar chart. A reservoir's overall degree of heterogeneity can be inferred using the radar chart area procedure discussed in this study. In general, our simulations illustrate that the larger the radar chart area, the more heterogenous the reservoir is, which in turn yields higher water cut trends and lower recovery factors. Computer simulations done during this study also show that the higher the Lorenz coefficient, the higher the probability of a thief zone to exist. Simulations done to study crossflow also show certain trends with respect to under tonguing and radar chart area.

scholarly journals Estimating reservoir permeability with borehole radar

Geophysics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. H51-H60
Author(s):  
Feng Zhou ◽  
Iraklis Giannakis ◽  
Antonios Giannopoulos ◽  
Klaus Holliger ◽  
Evert Slob
Keyword(s):  
Water Saturation ◽  
Time Lapse ◽  
Drilling Mud ◽  
Invasion Depth ◽  
Initial Water ◽  
Oil Drilling ◽  
Reservoir Evaluation ◽  
Reservoir Permeability ◽  
Borehole Radar ◽  
Porosity And Permeability

In oil drilling, mud filtrate penetrates into porous formations and alters the compositions and properties of the pore fluids. This disturbs the logging signals and brings errors to reservoir evaluation. Drilling and logging engineers therefore deem mud invasion as undesired and attempt to eliminate its adverse effects. However, the mud-contaminated formation carries valuable information, notably with regard to its hydraulic properties. Typically, the invasion depth critically depends on the formation porosity and permeability. Therefore, if adequately characterized, mud invasion effects could be used for reservoir evaluation. To pursue this objective, we have applied borehole radar to measure mud invasion depth considering its high radial spatial resolution compared with conventional logging tools, which then allows us to estimate the reservoir permeability based on the acquired invasion depth. We investigate the feasibility of this strategy numerically through coupled electromagnetic and fluid modeling in an oil-bearing layer drilled using freshwater-based mud. Time-lapse logging is simulated to extract the signals reflected from the invasion front, and a dual-offset downhole antenna mode enables time-to-depth conversion to determine the invasion depth. Based on drilling, coring, and logging data, a quantitative interpretation chart is established, mapping the porosity, permeability, and initial water saturation into the invasion depth. The estimated permeability is in a good agreement with the actual formation permeability. Our results therefore suggest that borehole radar has significant potential to estimate permeability through mud invasion effects.

scholarly journals Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Methane Hydrate Formation and Dissociation in Sandstone with Dual Water Saturation

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 3231
Author(s):  
Stian Almenningen ◽  
Per Fotland ◽  
Geir Ersland
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Methane Hydrate ◽  
Water Saturation ◽  
High Water ◽  
Growth Patterns ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Initial Water ◽  
Hydrate Dissociation ◽  
The Core

This paper reports formation and dissociation patterns of methane hydrate in sandstone. Magnetic resonance imaging spatially resolved hydrate growth patterns and liberation of water during dissociation. A stacked core set-up using Bentheim sandstone with dual water saturation was designed to investigate the effect of initial water saturation on hydrate phase transitions. The growth of methane hydrate (P = 8.3 MPa, T = 1–3 °C) was more prominent in high water saturation regions and resulted in a heterogeneous hydrate saturation controlled by the initial water distribution. The change in transverse relaxation time constant, T2, was spatially mapped during growth and showed different response depending on the initial water saturation. T2 decreased significantly during growth in high water saturation regions and remained unchanged during growth in low water saturation regions. Pressure depletion from one end of the core induced a hydrate dissociation front starting at the depletion side and moving through the core as production continued. The final saturation of water after hydrate dissociation was more uniform than the initial water saturation, demonstrating the significant redistribution of water that will take place during methane gas production from a hydrate reservoir.

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