CO2 Flooding to Increase Recovery for Unconventional Liquids-Rich Reservoirs

Abstract

The rising energy demand is causing the petroleum industry to develop unconventional oil resen'oirs; however, the primary recovery factor is low in these types of reservoirs. Alternative methods to increase recovery need to be studied. This paper analyzes the impact of CO2 flooding a sector of the Elm Coulee field using reservoir modeling. The sector is two miles by two miles and consists of six original single-lateral horizontal wells. Two different reservoir models are built for the sector: a primary recovery black oii model and a CO2 flood solvent model. They are used to determine the additional recovery due to a CO2 flood. Furthermore, the CO2 flood model is executed with different scenarios to determine the best well locations and injection schemes. The models demonstrate that CO2 flooding horizontal wells in the Elm Coulee field increases production. Comparison of vertical and horizontal injection techniques indicates continuous horizontal CO2 injection is more efficient; it yields higher injection rates, and it is also beneficial for long-term recovery. Focusing on horizontal injection, the best scenario involves the practice of drilling new injectors and producers aiong with converting existing producers to injection wells. In order to satisfy production requirements, production wells can be drilled such that there is an injector between two producers. This type of arrangement on horizontal injection increases the field recoveiy factor over 15% after eighteen years of injection.

Experimental Investigation of Nano-Biomaterial Applications for Heavy Oil Recovery in Shaly Porous Models: A Pore-Level Study

“…The rising energy demand is causing the petroleum industry to develop unconventional oil reservoirs; however, the primary recovery factor is low in these types of reservoirs [1], So noticing heavy oil reservoirs containing shales as flow barriers with zero permeability as huge energy sources is necessary. For example, the extensive oil shale reserves of the United States are now under development as an energy source [2], Due to its complex geologi cal nature, the shale barrier exhibits as a different facies in reser voirs [3], Glass micromodels are modem tools to represent the porous media for EOR purposes.…”

Experimental Study on a Novel Foaming Formula for CO2 Foam Flooding

“…Among the gases which can be applied in the gas flooding process, CO2 is considered the most commonly used source worldwide [1][2][3][4]. It is capable of forming a dense or supercritical phase with the characteristic of high density and high viscosity in typical reservoir conditions, and this feature significantly facilitates its miscibility with the crude oil [5][6][7].…”

Simulation Study of CO2-EOR in Tight Oil Reservoirs with Complex Fracture Geometries

“…The fracture diagnostic technologies like microseismic 14 15 16 and the recent developed fracture propagation models 17 18 19 indicate that the fracture geometry is complex and non-planar. Although many efforts in the literature are dedicated to modeling CO 2 -EOR in tight oil reservoirs 20 21 22 23 , they made an assumption of simple bi-wing planar fracture geometry without considering the more-realistic complex fracture geometry. Even though the complex fracture networks provide the primary conduits for oil production, they might be detrimental to CO 2 flooding effectiveness 24 .…”