气液非混相驱替过程中的卡断机理及模拟研究

研究气液非混相驱替过程中的相界面卡断机理及其影响因素在气驱, 气水交替及泡沫驱等提高油气采收率领域具有重要意义. 本文在原始伪势格子玻尔兹曼模型的基础上, 改进流体-流体作用力格式, 添加流-固作用力, 耦合RK状态方程, 并采用精确差分方法将外力添加到LBM框架中. 通过校准模型的热力学一致性以及模拟测试界面张力, 静态平衡接触角及液相在角隅的滞留等一系列两相体系验证模型的准确性. 基于改进的伪势格子玻尔兹曼模型, 在孔-喉-孔系统中开展气液非混相驱替模拟, 结果表明: 卡断现象与驱替压差, 孔喉长度比及孔喉宽度比有关, 只有当驱替压差处于一定范围内时, 气液两相驱替过程中才会发生卡断现象; 当驱替压差大于临界驱替压差上限时, 即使达到了经典静态准则所预测的卡断条件, 卡断也会被抑制; 当驱替压差小于临界驱替压差下限时, 无法克服毛管“钉扎”作用, 形成无效驱替. 对于固定孔喉宽度比的孔-喉-孔结构, 随着孔喉长度比的增大, 发生卡断现象的驱替压差范围增大; 对于固定孔喉长度比的孔-喉-孔结构, 随着孔喉宽度比的减小, 发生卡断现象的驱替压差范围增大.      

非牛顿流体在非均质油藏渗流压力场实验

在非均质油藏模型上进行非牛顿流体流动物理模拟实验，对比研究水驱、聚合物驱和交联聚合物对提高石油采收率的影响．通过布置高精度的压差传感器测量不同驱替过程模型中的渗流压力场的动态变化，成胶后的交联聚合物封堵了高渗条区，改变了油藏内流体流动方向，驱替出低渗区内油，提高了采收率．     

利用三维网络模型研究滞留聚合物微观分布规律

再利用地下滞留聚合物是聚合物驱之后进一步提高原油采收率的新途径。基于油水两相流网络模拟模型,综合考虑聚合物渗流机理建立起聚合物驱微观模拟模型。用微观数值模拟手段研究了地下滞留聚合物分布规律及影响因素,为有效地开采聚合物驱后剩余油、合理利用滞留地下聚合物提供必要的依据。模拟结果表明,由于吸附和捕集作用将引起大量聚合物滞留在孔喉中,滞留聚合物占注入聚合物的61.7%。总体上看,大孔喉中聚合物滞留量较大,但滞留聚合物浓度较小。孔喉半径和形状因子为聚合物滞留的主要影响因素,孔喉滞留聚合物浓度与孔喉半径和形状因子平方根的乘积成反比。     

聚合物驱交替注入改善吸液剖面的力学机制及效果评价方法

开发实践表明,聚合物驱采用单一段塞注入方式,暴露出了易发生剖面返转的问题。鉴于此,研究了通过交替注入方式改善吸液剖面的新型驱油方法。应用渗流力学基本定律,结合实验数据,论证了单一段塞注入剖面返转及交替注入抑制剖面返转的力学机制。结果表明,注聚合物过程中高、低渗层阻力系数表现规律不同,而交替注入方式能够使高、低渗层阻力系数表现规律趋同,是单一段塞注入方式发生剖面返转、交替注入方式抑制剖面返转的根本原因。本文建立了用低、高渗层累积阻力系数的比值作为吸液剖面改善效果的评价方法,该比值越小,低渗层吸液比例越高,吸液剖面改善效果越好。     

油藏复杂驱动体系物理模拟相似准则研究进展

综述了水驱油、化学驱油、蒸汽驱、混相驱及非混相驱等复杂油藏驱替体系物理模拟相似准则的研究现状.系统介绍了相似参数敏感性分析方法,定义了表征目标函数对相似参数依赖程度的敏感因子,结合数值方法便可定量地确定复杂体系主要相似参数,并实际应用于工程问题.讨论了水驱和聚合物驱物理模拟应优先满足的相似准则及其随参数范围的变化.      

裂缝性油层的周期注水

本文根据并发展了最近在文献[5]中提出的双重孔隙介质中的二相驱替理论,给出了适用于任意注水情形的吸渗方程,提出了裂缝性油层周期注水的计算方法,并据此对之进行了初步的研究。结果表明,周期注水的效果将视油藏的条件而异,即使只考虑到吸渗作用,在一定的油藏条件下,如果适当选择控制方式,周期注水可明显地改善其开发效果。     

缝洞型多孔介质中多相流的有限体积法数值模拟

本文研究的碳酸盐岩油藏储集体属于缝洞型多孔介质.这类缝洞型多孔介质由裂缝、溶蚀孔洞和低孔隙度低渗透率的基岩组成.裂缝是空隙流体流动的主要通道;溶蚀孔洞大小从几厘米到数米不等,渗透率和孔隙度都很高,是流体主要的储集空间.由于缝洞型多孔介质空隙空间的复杂性和强非均质性,数值计算中基本控制方程的空间离散应采用非结构化网格的计算模型.本文采用有限体积法模拟缝洞型多孔介质中多相流体的流动,并给出了相应的单元中心格式有限体积法的计算公式.裂缝介质和溶洞介质中单元间多相流体的流动考虑为高速非达西流,其质量通量采用Forchheimer定律计算.非线性方程的离散选取全隐式格式,并采用Newton-Raphson迭代进行求解.通过两个二维模型注水驱油的数值模拟,验证了本文方法的有效性.     

特低渗油藏不同开发方式室内实验研究

把特低渗透油藏岩心根据渗透率划分为不同等级,分别对不同等级岩心进行注水、注氮气和注二氧化碳室内实验.测得了不同开发方式条件下注采压差梯度和洗油效率,回归出不同开发方式下洗油效率随渗透率变化关系式,并对不同开发方式效果进行对比分析.研究结果表明:特低渗油藏在不同方式开发过程中,注入压力都表现为先上升后下降,最后趋于稳定值...     

低渗透油藏水平井分段采油优化模型

针对低渗透油藏水平井的分段采油,考虑变盲筛比的分段完井方法,引入启动压力梯度,基于势的叠加、镜像反映原理和微元线汇思想,分别建立了低渗透封闭油藏和低渗透底水油藏的分段采油耦合模型。以水平井的产量作为目标函数,以生产水平井段的长度和中心点位置作为优化变量,分别建立了两种边界条件的低渗透油藏水平井分段采油优化模型。利用遗传算法,编制数值模拟软件,对水平井分段采油时分段方案进行了优化设计,分别给出了不同分段模式下的最优分段方案。     

分子模拟在非常规油气开发中的应用

非常规油气资源储量丰富,具有广阔的开发前景.我国低渗/特低渗油藏以陆相沉积为主,储层特征差异性大,孔喉细小,孔隙度低,可动原油气大量储集于亚微米孔隙中,开采难度大,采收率低.岩油界面微观力学作用和限域传质力学机理是其中的关键科学问题.近年来,分子模拟技术在非常规油气开采的研究领域已经成为一种重要的研究手段.本文介绍了分子模拟的基本原理,然后给出了非常规油气藏储层流体和基质的组成及分子模型,并探讨了分子模拟在非常规油气开发中的应用及相关研究进展.     

Experimental Study of Pore-Scale Mechanisms of Carbonated Water Injection

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) injection is a well-established method for increasing recovery from oil reservoirs. However, poor sweep efficiency has been reported in many CO₂ injection projects due to the high mobility contrast between CO₂ and oil and water. Various injection strategies including gravity stable, WAG and SWAG have been suggested and, to some extent, applied in the field to alleviate this problem. An alternative injection strategy is carbonated water injection (CWI). In CWI, CO₂ is delivered to a much larger part of the reservoir compared to direct CO₂ injection due to a much improved sweep efficiency. In CWI, CO₂ is used efficiently and much less CO₂ is required compared to conventional CO₂ flooding, and hence the process is particularly attractive for reservoirs with limited access to large quantities of CO₂ (offshore reservoirs or reservoirs far away from inexpensive natural CO₂ resources). This article describes the results of a pore-scale study of the process of CWI by performing high-pressure visualisation flow experiments. The experimental results show that CWI, compared to unadulterated (conventional) water injection, improves oil recovery as both a secondary (before water flooding) and a tertiary (after water flooding) recovery method. The mechanisms of oil recovery by CWI include oil swelling, coalescence of the isolated oil ganglia and flow diversion due to flow restriction in some of the pores as a result of oil swelling and the resultant fluid redistribution. In this article the potential benefit of a subsequent depressurisation period on oil recovery after the CWI period is also investigated.     

Investigating the Fracture Network Effects on Sweep Efficiency during WAG Injection Process

In this study, the main recovery mechanisms behind oil/water/gas interactions during the water-alternating-gas (WAG) injection process, in a network of matrix/fracture, were fundamentally investigated. A visual micromodel was utilized to provide insights into the potential applications of WAG process in fractured oil-wet media as well as the possibility of observing microscopic displacement behavior of fluids in the model. The model was made of an oil-wet facture/matrix network system, comprised of four matrix blocks surrounded with fractures. Different WAG injection scenarios, such as slug arrangements and the effects of fluid injection rates on oil recovery were studied. A new equation representing the capillary number, considering the fracture viscous force and matrix capillary force, was developed to make the experimental results more similar to a real field. In general, WAG tests performed in the fractured model showed a higher oil recovery factor compared with the results of gas and water injection tests at their optimum rates. The results showed that the presence of an oil film, in all cases, was the main reason for co-current drainage and double displacement of oil under applied driving forces. Furthermore, the formation of oil liquid bridges improved the recovery efficiency, which was greatly influenced by the size of fracture connecting the two matrix blocks; these connecting paths were more stable when there was initial water remaining in the media. Analyzing different recovery curves and microscopic view of the three phases in the transparent model showed that starting an injection mode with gas (followed by repeated small slugs of water and gas), could considerably improve oil recovery by pushing water into the matrix zone and increasing the total sweep efficiency.     

Displacement Theory of Low-Tension Gas Flooding

Low-tension gas (LTG) flooding is a promising chemical enhanced oil recovery technique in tight sandstone and carbonate reservoirs where polymer may not be used because of plugging and degradation issues. This process has been the subject of many experimental studies. However, theoretical investigation of the LTG process is scarce in the literature. Hence, in this study, we lay out a displacement theory for LTG flooding, with a constant mobility reduction factor, which lays the groundwork for further theoretical studies. The proposed model is based on the three-phase flow of water, oil, and gas in the presence of a water-soluble surfactant component. Under the developed model, we study the effect of MRF and oil viscosity on the flow dynamics and oil recovery. Moreover, we explain experimental observations on early gas breakthrough that occurs during LTG core floods even in the presence of a stable foam drive.

     

Pore-scale Simulation of Water Alternate Gas Injection

We use a three-dimensional mixed-wet random network model representing Berea sandstone to compute displacement paths and relative permeabilities for water alternating gas (WAG) flooding. First we reproduce cycles of water and gas injection observed in previously published experimental studies. We predict the measured oil, water and gas relative permeabilities accurately. We discuss the hysteresis trends in the water and gas relative permeabilities and compare the behavior of water-wet and oil-wet media. We interpret the results in terms of pore-scale displacements. In water-wet media the water relative permeability is lower during water injection in the presence of gas due to an increase in oil/water capillary pressure that causes a decrease in wetting layer conductance. The gas relative permeability is higher for displacement cycles after first gas injection at high gas saturation due to cooperative pore filling, but lower at low saturation due to trapping. In oil-wet media, the water relative permeability remains low until water-filled elements span the system at which point the relative permeability increases rapidly. The gas relative permeability is lower in the presence of water than oil because it is no longer the most non-wetting phase.     

Coreflooding Studies to Investigate the Potential of Carbonated Water Injection as an Injection Strategy for Improved Oil Recovery and CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> Storage

Carbonated water injection (CWI) is a CO₂-augmented water injection strategy that leads to increased oil recovery with added advantage of safe storage of CO₂ in oil reservoirs. In CWI, CO₂ is used efficiently (compared to conventional CO₂ injection) and hence it is particularly attractive for reservoirs with limited access to large quantities of CO₂, e.g. offshore reservoirs or reservoirs far from large sources of CO₂. We present the results of a series of CWI coreflood experiments using water-wet and mixed-wet Clashach sandstone cores and a reservoir core with light oil (n-decane), refined viscous oil and a stock-tank crude oil. The experiments were carried out to assess the performance of CWI and to quantify the level of additional oil recovery and CO₂ storage under various experimental conditions. We show that the ultimate oil recovery by CWI is higher than the conventional water flooding in both secondary and tertiary recovery methods. Oil swelling as a result of CO₂ diffusion into the oil and the subsequent oil viscosity reduction and coalescence of the isolated oil ganglia are amongst the main mechanisms of oil recovery by CWI that were observed through the visualisation experiments in high-pressure glass micromodels. There was also evidence of a change in the rock wettability that could also influence the oil recovery. The coreflood test results also reveal that the CWI performance is influenced by oil viscosity, core wettability and the brine salinity. Higher oil recovery was obtained with the mixed-wet core than the water-wet core, with light oil than with the viscous oil and low salinity carbonated brine than high-salinity carbonated brine. At the end of the flooding period, an encouraging amount of the injected CO₂ was stored in the brine and the remaining oil in the form of stable dissolved CO₂. The experimental results clearly demonstrate the potential of CWI for improving oil recovery as compared with the conventional water flooding (secondary recovery) or as a water-based EOR (enhanced oil recovery) method for watered out reservoirs.     

Accurate Modelling of Pore-Scale Films and Layers for Three-Phase Flow Processes in Clastic and Carbonate Rocks with Arbitrary Wettability

Three-phase flow is a key process occurring in subsurface reservoirs, for example, during $\text{ CO }_2$ sequestration and enhanced oil recovery techniques such as water alternating gas (WAG) injection. Predicting three-phase flow processes, for example, the increase in oil recovery during WAG, requires a sound understanding of the fundamental flow physics in water- to oil-wet rocks to derive physically robust flow functions, i.e. relative permeability and capillary pressure. In this study, we use pore-network modelling, a reliable and physically based simulation tool, to predict the flow functions. We have developed a new pore-scale network model for rocks with variable wettability, from water- to oil-wet. It comprises a constrained set of parameters that mimic the wetting state of a reservoir. Unlike other models, it combines three main features: (1) A novel thermodynamic criterion for formation and collapse of oil layers. The new model hence captures wetting film and layer flow of oil adequately, which affects the oil relative permeability at low oil saturation and leads to accurate prediction of residual oil. (2) Multiple displacement chains, where injection of one phase at the inlet triggers a chain of interface displacements throughout the network. This allows for the accurate modelling of the mobilisation of many disconnected phase clusters that arise, in particular, during higher order WAG floods. (3) The model takes realistic 3D pore-networks extracted from pore-space reconstruction methods and CT images as input, preserving both topology and pore shape of the sample. For water-wet systems, we have validated our model with available experimental data from core floods. For oil-wet systems, we validated our network model by comparing 2D network simulations with published data from WAG floods in oil-wet micromodels. This demonstrates the importance of film and layer flow for the continuity of the various phases during subsequent WAG cycles and for the residual oil saturations. A sensitivity analysis has been carried out with the full 3D model to predict three-phase relative permeabilities and residual oil saturations for WAG cycles under various wetting conditions with different flood end-points.     

Numerical simulation of pore-scale flow in chemical flooding process

Chemical flooding is one of the effective technologies to increase oil recovery of petroleum reservoirs after water flooding. Above the scale of representative elementary volume (REV), phenomenological modeling and numerical simulations of chemical flooding have been reported in literatures, but the studies alike are rarely conducted at the pore-scale, at which the effects of physicochemical hydrodynamics are hardly resolved either by experimental observations or by traditional continuum-based simulations. In this paper, dissipative particle dynamics (DPD), one of mesoscopic fluid particle methods, is introduced to simulate the pore-scale flow in chemical flooding processes. The theoretical background, mathematical formulation and numerical approach of DPD are presented. The plane Poiseuille flow is used to illustrate the accuracy of the DPD simulation, and then the processes of polymer flooding through an oil-wet throat and a water-wet throat are studies, respectively. The selected parameters of those simulations are given in details. These preliminary results show the potential of this novel method for modeling the physicochemical hydrodynamics at the pore scale in the area of chemical enhanced oil recovery.     

Microscopic Mechanisms of Oil Recovery By Near-Miscible Gas Injection

As gas flooding becomes a more viable means of enhanced oil recovery, it is important to identify and understand the pore-scale flow mechanisms, both for the development of improved gas flooding applications and for the predicting phase mobilisation under secondary and tertiary gas flooding. The purpose of this study was to visually investigate the pore-level mechanisms of oil recovery by near-miscible secondary and tertiary gas floods. High-pressure glass micromodels and model fluids representing a near-miscible fluid system were used for the flow experiments. A new pore-scale recovery mechanism was identified which significantly contributed to oil recovery through enhanced flow and cross-flow between the bypassed pores and the injected gas. This mechanism is strongly related to a very low gas/oil interfacial tension (IFT), perfect wetting conditions and simultaneous flow of gas and oil in the same pore, all of which occur as the gas/oil critical point is approached. The results of this study helps us to better understand the pore-scale mechanisms of oil recovery in very low-IFT (near-miscible) systems. In particular we show that in near-miscible gas floods, behind the main gas front, the recovery of the oil continues by cross-flow from the bypassed pores into the main flow stream and as a result almost all of the oil, which has been contacted by the gas, could be recovered. Our observations in high-pressure micromodel experiments have demonstrated that this mechanism can only occur in near-miscible processes (as opposed to immiscible and completely miscible processes), which makes oil displacement by near-miscible gas floods a very effective process.     

Analytical Modeling for Gravity Segregation in Gas Improved Oil Recovery of Tilted Reservoirs

Stone’s model for gravity segregation in gas improved oil recovery (IOR) indicates the distance that injected gas and water travel together before the segregation being completed (length of complete segregation). This model is very useful for co-injection of water and gas into horizontal depleted reservoirs. A proof by Rossen and van Duijn showed that Stone’s model applies to steady-state gas–liquid flow, and also foam flow, in horizontal reservoirs as long as the standard assumptions of fractional flow theory (incompressible flow, Newtonian mobilities, local equilibrium) are applied. However, until now, there has been no analytical study on the length of segregation when co-injection of water and gas occurs in tilted reservoirs. In this article, in order to extent the validity of Stone’s model to tilted reservoirs, governing equations of fluids displacement based on fractional flow theory are solved by the method of characteristics, MOC. The results are then compared to Stone’s model and to the results of a three-dimensional finite-difference compositional reservoir simulator. This study shows that Stone’s model should be corrected for tilted reservoirs and that the presented math proof can model gravity segregation in gas IOR of tilted reservoirs, appropriately. The effect of co-injecting of water and gas into tilted reservoirs on recovery efficiency is also examined.