Modeling Oil Recovery in Brazilian Carbonate Rock by Engineered Water Injection Using Numerical Simulation

Abstract

Waterflooding remains the most commonly used method to improve oil recovery. Although the injected brine type is mainly dependent on its availability, few of its characteristics can be controlled during project design. Published laboratory work indicates that the adjustment of injected brine composition can cause an increase in oil production by wettability alteration. This research objective is to propose a novel four-step framework for modeling improved oil recovery by Engineered Water Injection from laboratory to numerical simulation for carbonate formations. We use a geochemical-based model that estimates contact angles to predict wettability alteration. The steps are (1) screening criteria, (2) geochemical evaluation, (3) wettability alteration modeling, and (4) coreflood history-match. We validate our framework by conducting history-match simulations of Brazilian Pre-Salt corefloods. Incremental oil recovery factors are between 5 to 11%, consistent with those reported during experiments. The reduction in residual oil saturation varied from 3 to 5%. This work is a new systematic procedure to model oil recovery using a comprehensive approach that is fundamental to understanding the underlying wettability alteration mechanisms by Engineered Water Injection.

Downhole parameter prediction method based on multi-layer water injection model and historical data-based model parameter identification

“…Moreover, due to the large differences in the properties of wells, it is difficult for data-based models to obtain effective generalization capabilities. Bordeaux-Rego et al predicted the change of formation wetness by estimating the contact angle based on the geochemical carbonate layer model [ 14 ]. Xie et al established a mass flow prediction model to predict the productivity of oil and gas wellheads [ 15 ].…”