A Novel Trilinear Flow Model for Capturing Dynamic Behavior of Water Flooding in Core Plug with Different Fracture Inclinations in Carbonate Reservoirs

The purpose of this study is to introduce a new three-linear flow model for capturing the dynamic behavior of water flooding with different fracture occurrences in carbonate reservoirs. Low-angle and high-angle fractures with different occurrences are usually developed in carbonate reservoirs. It is difficult to simulate the water injection development process and the law of water flooding is unclear, due to the large variation of the fracture dip. Based on the characteristics of water flooding displacement streamlines in fractured cores with different occurrences, the matrix is discretized into a number of one-dimensional linear subregions, and the channeling effect between each subregion is considered in this paper. The fractures are divided into the same number of fracture cells along with the matrix subregion, and the conduction effect between the fracture cells is considered. The fractured core injection-production system is divided into three areas of linear flow: The injected fluid flows horizontally and linearly from the matrix area at the inlet end of the core to the fracture and then linearly diverts from the fracture area. Finally, the matrix area at the outlet end of the core also presents a horizontal linear flow pattern. Thus, a trilinear flow model for water flooding oil in fractured cores with different occurrences is established. The modified BL equation is used to construct the matrix water-flooding analytical solution, and the fracture system establishes a finite-volume numerical solution, forming a high-efficiency semianalytical solution method for water-flooding BL-CVF. Compared with traditional numerical simulation methods, the accuracy is over 86%, the model is easy to construct, and the calculation efficiency is high. In addition, it can flexibly portray cracks at any dip angle, calculate various indicators of water flooding, and simulate the pressure field and saturation field, with great application effect. The research results show that the greater the fracture dip angle, the higher the oil displacement efficiency. When the fracture dip angle is above 45°, the fracture occurrence has almost no effect on the oil displacement efficiency. The water breakthrough time of through fractures is earlier than that of nonthrough fractures, and the oil displacement efficiency and injection pressure are more significantly affected by the fracture permeability. With the increase of fracture permeability, the oil displacement efficiency and the injection pressure of perforated fractured cores dropped drastically. The findings of this study can help for better understanding of the water drive law and optimizing its parameters in cores with different fracture occurrences. The three-linear flow model has strong adaptability and can accurately solve low-permeability reservoirs and high-angle fractures, but there are some errors for high-permeability reservoirs with long fractures.

Displacement of oil by SiO2-nanofluid from a microporous medium: microfluidic experiments

In this work, the process of displacing oil from a microfluidic chip that simulates a porous medium is studied. Experimental photographs of the process of oil displacement by water and SiO2-nanofluid are presented. It is shown that the use of nanofluid increases the oil displacement efficiency by 16%.

Mechanisms of Nanofluid Based Modification MoS2 Nanosheet for Enhanced Oil Recovery

Recently, much attention has been directed towards the applications of nanofluids for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Here, amphiphilic molybdenum disulfide (KH550-MoS2) nanosheets were synthesized using a hydrothermal approach. The physicochemical properties and potential EOR of ultra-low concentration KH550-MoS2 nanofluids were systematically investigated under reservoir conditions at Changqing Oilfield (China) (temperature~55℃ and salinity~7.8×104 mg/L). Interfacial tension (IFT), wettability change, and emulsion stability were measured to evaluate the physicochemical properties of the KH550-MoS2 nanofluids. The results showed that ultra-low concentration of KH550-MoS2 nanofluid (50 mg/L) could decrease IFT to 2.6 mN/m, change the contact angle (CTA) from 131.2° to 51.7° and significantly enhance emulsion stability. Core flooding experiments were conducted to determine the dynamic adsorption loss law and the oil displacement efficiency of KH550-MoS2 nanofluid. The results indicated that the ratio of cumulative produced KH550-MoS2 nanosheets to the total injected KH550-MoS2 nanosheets (CNR) reached 91.5% during flooding in low permeability reservoirs. Moreover, ultra-low concentration KH550-MoS2 nanofluid can increase the oil displacement efficiency by 14% after water driven. This study shows the physicochemical properties of the KH550-MoS2 amphiphilic nanofluid and offers a novel high- efficiency amphiphilic nanofluid for EOR

Study on the Flow Mechanism of Shale Oil with Different Injection Media

Chinese shale oil has high recoverable resources and great development potential. However, due to the limitation of development technology, the recovery rate of shale oil is not high. In this paper, the effects of different injection media on the development of shale oil reservoirs in Dongying formation, Qikou depression, Huanghua depression, and Bohai bay basin, were studied by means of imbibition and nitrogen flooding. Combining nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technology with imbibition and gas displacement experiments, the mechanism of shale injected formation water, active water (surfactant), and nitrogen was reproduced. The displacement process of crude oil under different injection media and injection conditions was truly demonstrated, and the relationship between different development methods and the pore boundaries used was clarified. A theoretical basis for the effective development of shale oil was provided. At the same time, Changqing tight oil cores with similar permeability to Dagang shale oil cores were selected for comparison. The results showed that, as the imbibition time of shale samples increased, the imbibition efficiency increased. Pores with T2 < 10 ms contributed the most to imbibition efficiency, with an average contribution greater than 90%. 10 ms < T2 < 100 ms and more than 100 ms pores contributed less to imbibition efficiency. Active water can change the wettability of shale, increase its hydrophilicity, and improve the efficiency of imbibition. The imbibition recovery ratio of injected active water was 17.56% higher than that of injected formation water. Compared with tight sandstone with similar permeability, the imbibition efficiency of shale was lower. As the nitrogen displacement pressure increased, the oil displacement efficiency also increased. The higher the shale permeability was, the greater the displacement efficiency would be. T2 > 100 ms pore throat of shale contributed to the main oil displacement efficiency, with an average oil displacement efficiency contribution of 63.16%. And the relaxation interval 10 < T2 < 100 ms pore throat displacement efficiency contributed to 28.27%. T2 < 10 ms pore throat contributed the least to the oil displacement efficiency, with an average oil displacement efficiency contribution of 8.58%. Compared with tight sandstone with similar permeability, shale had lower oil displacement efficiency. The findings of this study can help for better understanding of the influence of different injection media on shale oil recovery effect.

Study on oil displacement efficiency of offshore sandstone reservoir with big bottom water

X oilfield is a typical sandstone reservoir with big bottom water in the Bohai Sea. The viscosity of crude oil ranges from 30 to 425 cp. Single sand development with the horizontal well is adopted. At present, the water content is as high as 96%. The water cut of the production well is stable for a long time in the high water cut period. The recoverable reserves calculated by conventional methods have gradually increased, and even the partial recovery has exceeded the predicted recovery rate. This study carried out an oil displacement efficiency experiment under big water drive multiple to accurately understand an extensive bottom water reservoir's production law in an ultra-high water cut stage. It comprehensively used the scanning electron microscope date, casting thin section, oil displacement experiment, and production performance to analyze the change law of physical properties and relative permeability curve from the aspects of reservoir clay minerals, median particle size, pore distribution, and pore throat characteristics. Therefore, the development law of horizontal production wells in sandstone reservoirs with big bottom water is understood. It evaluates the ultimate recovery of sandstone reservoirs with big bottom water. It provides a fundamental theoretical basis and guidance for dynamic prediction and delicate potential tapping of sandstone reservoirs with big bottom water at a high water cut stage.

Immiscible CO2 Flooding Efficiency in Low-Permeability Reservoirs: An Experimental Investigation of Residual Oil Distribution

Residual oil distribution plays a critical role in understanding of the CO2 flooding processes, but its quantitative research for reservoirs with different permeability levels rarely has been comprehensively conducted in the laboratory. This article presents the results of an experimental study on the immiscible CO2 displacement efficiency in different permeability core samples and various oil distribution patterns prior to and after immiscible CO2 flooding. Experiments were conducted on four core samples extracted from the selected oil field with a permeability range from 0.210–66.077 mD. The experimental results show that the immiscible CO2 can mobilize oil in ultralow-permeability environment and achieve a reasonable displacement efficiency (40.98%). The contribution of different oil distribution patterns to displacement efficiency varies in reservoirs with different permeabilities. With the increase of core permeability, the contribution of cluster and intergranular pore oil distribution patterns to displacement efficiency increases. However, the oil displacement efficiency of corner and oil film patterns tends to increase with lower permeability. Therefore, immiscible CO2 flooding is recommended for ultralow-permeability case, especially for reservoirs with larger amount of oil in corner and oil film distribution patterns. The oil displacement efficiency calculated by immiscible CO2 flooding experiment results agrees reasonably well with the core frozen slices observation. The results of this study have practical significance that refers to the effective development of low-permeability reservoirs.

Enhanced Oil Recovery: Chemical Flooding

The enhanced oil recovery phase of oil reservoirs production usually comes after the water/gas injection (secondary recovery) phase. The main objective of EOR application is to mobilize the remaining oil through enhancing the oil displacement and volumetric sweep efficiency. The oil displacement efficiency enhances by reducing the oil viscosity and/or by reducing the interfacial tension, while the volumetric sweep efficiency improves by developing a favorable mobility ratio between the displacing fluid and the remaining oil. It is important to identify remaining oil and the production mechanisms that are necessary to improve oil recovery prior to implementing an EOR phase. Chemical enhanced oil recovery is one of the major EOR methods that reduces the residual oil saturation by lowering water-oil interfacial tension (surfactant/alkaline) and increases the volumetric sweep efficiency by reducing the water-oil mobility ratio (polymer). In this chapter, the basic mechanisms of different chemical methods have been discussed including the interactions of different chemicals with the reservoir rocks and fluids. In addition, an up-to-date status of chemical flooding at the laboratory scale, pilot projects and field applications have been reported.