Pore network modelling of low salinity water injection under unsteady-state flow conditions

Boujelben, Ahmed Hamdi; McDougall, Steven Robert; Watson, Michael G.; Bondino, Igor; Agenet, Nicolas

doi:10.1016/j.petrol.2018.02.040

Cited by 31 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…In this study, we have modelled two-phase flow using the Volume of fluid (VOF) method, coupled with the mass and momentum equation for different wettability alteration mechanisms using OpenFOAM. Although this technique has been used before to simulate the wettability alteration 32,40 , the critical role of transport and mixing and their contribution to two-phase flow have not been investigated.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since wettability alteration in experimental studies cannot be controlled or systematically changed and is highly dependent on COBR interaction; hence experimental pore-scale studies have not been able to evaluate the optimal wettability conditions for low salinity waterflooding under tertiary mode. In a recent pore network modelling study, in which pre-defined wettability alteration mechanisms were simulated, it was concluded that a greater change in wettability towards water-wet conditions leads to higher oil recovery in the tertiary mode 40 . This is interesting because without wettability alteration, the optimum wettability is neutral wet to weakly-wet 3 , but in case of wettability alteration, stronger water-wet conditions are more preferred 40 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a recent pore network modelling study, in which pre-defined wettability alteration mechanisms were simulated, it was concluded that a greater change in wettability towards water-wet conditions leads to higher oil recovery in the tertiary mode 40 . This is interesting because without wettability alteration, the optimum wettability is neutral wet to weakly-wet 3 , but in case of wettability alteration, stronger water-wet conditions are more preferred 40 . This discrepancy in conclusions depending on the flooding conditions has not been clearly addressed in the literature and pore-scale simulations can potentially explain them.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Novel insights into pore-scale dynamics of wettability alteration during low salinity waterflooding

Aziz

Niasar

Martínez-Ferrer

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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Low salinity waterflooding has proven to accelerate oil production at core and field scales. Wettability alteration from a more oil-wetting to a more water-wetting condition has been established as one of the most notable effects of low salinity waterflooding. To induce the wettability alteration, low salinity water should be transported to come in contact with the oil-water interfaces. Transport under two-phase flow conditions can be highly influenced by fluids topology that creates connected pathways as well as dead-end regions. It is known that under two-phase flow conditions, the pore space filled by a fluid can be split into flowing (connected pathways) and stagnant (deadend) regions due to fluids topology. Transport in flowing regions is advection controlled and transport in stagnant regions is predominantly diffusion controlled. To understand the full picture of wettability alteration of a rock by injection of low salinity water, it is important to know i) how the injected low salinity water displaces and mixes with the high salinity water, ii) how continuous wettability alteration impacts the redistribution of two immiscible fluids and (ii) role of hydrodynamic transport and mixing between the low salinity water and the formation brine (high salinity water) in wettability alteration. To address these two issues, computational fluid dynamic simulations of coupled dynamic two-phase flow, hydrodynamic transport and wettability alteration in a 2D domain were carried out using the volume of fluid method. The numerical simulations show that when low salinity water was injected, the formation brine (high salinity water) was swept out from the flowing regions by advection. However, the formation brine residing in stagnant regions was diffused very slowly to the low salinity water. The presence of formation brine in stagnant regions created heterogeneous wettability conditions at the pore scale, which led to remarkable two-phase flow dynamics and internal redistribution of oil, which is referred to as the "pull-push" behaviour and has not been addressed before in the literature. Our simulation results imply that the presence of stagnant regions in the tertiary oil recovery impedes the potential of wettability alteration for additional oil recovery. Hence, it would be favorable to inject low salinity water from the beginning of waterflooding to avoid stagnant saturation. We also observed that oil ganglia size was reduced under tertiary mode of low salinity waterflooding compared to the high salinity waterflooding.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Novel insights into pore-scale dynamics of wettability alteration during low salinity waterflooding

Aziz

Niasar

Martínez-Ferrer

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The new model is implemented on an earlier version of the open-source PNM code (https://github.com/ ahboujelben/numSCAL_basic) by extending its quasistatic two-phase model. For technical details in that code, the reader is referred to Regaieg et al [46] and Boujelben et al [47].…”

Section: Geofluidsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the Influences of Pore-Scale Characteristics on Tight Oil Migration by a Two-Phase Pore Network Model

Zeng

Ma²,

Liu

et al. 2020

Geofluids

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The migration of expelled hydrocarbon from source rock into unconventional tight reservoirs is subject to different pore-scale fluid transport mechanisms as opposed to the conventional counterparts and therefore plays a crucial role in controlling the hydrocarbon distribution and accumulation in the former. One of the different mechanisms is related to the formation of a more viscous boundary layer (BL) of brine, i.e., wetting phase fluid on pore surfaces, giving rise to the so-called BL effect. In this work, a two-phase pore network model (PNM) that considers this BL effect is developed to study the influences of pore-scale characteristics on the oil migration process, manifested through the BL effect in tight-sandstone media. Good agreements are reached between experimentally derived relative permeability curves and predicted ones, by applying this model to the pore-network networks extracted from the same samples. Then, this validated model was used to evaluate the impacts of the following factors on the oil migration process: pore radius, coordination number, aspect ratio, brine viscosity, and wettability. The results show that all factors can influence the oil migration process but at different magnitudes. The applicability and significance of the developed tight oil migration PNM are discussed in this work.

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“…Pore network models have been widely applied in the oil industry to study pore-scale fluid displacement phenomena in a variety of contexts (see Blunt [33], Joekar-Niasar and Hassanizadeh [34] and Blunt [35] for excellent reviews of this work). Following on from the theoretical approach developed by Sorbie and Collins [36], we have recently developed steadystate and unsteady-state pore network modelling approaches to investigate the pore-scale displacement behaviour that arises from LS-induced wettability modification in uniformly wetted networks [37,38]. In these studies, we have used tracer algorithms to track the evolution of water salinity when LS brine is injected to displace oil from in silico networks that also contain HS brine.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Mechanistic Pore-Scale Analysis of the Low-Salinity Effect in Heterogeneously Wetted Porous Media

Watson¹,

McDougall²

2019

Preprint

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Over the last two decades, the enhanced oil recovery technique of low-salinity (LS) waterflooding has been a topic of substantial interest in the petroleum industry. Many studies have shown that LS brine injection can increase oil production relative to conventional high-salinity (HS) brine injection, but contradictory results have also been reported and a complete understanding of the underlying mechanisms remains elusive. We have recently developed an innovative, steady-state pore network model to simulate oil recovery by LS brine injection in uniformly wetted pore structures (Watson et al., Transp. Porous Med. 118, 201-223, 2017), and we extend this approach here to investigate the mechanisms of the low-salinity effect (LSE) in heterogeneously wetted media. We couple a model of capillary force-driven fluid displacement to a novel tracer algorithm and track the evolving salinity front in the pore network as oil and HS brine are displaced by injected LS brine. The wettability

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Pore network modelling of low salinity water injection under unsteady-state flow conditions

Cited by 31 publications

References 12 publications

Novel insights into pore-scale dynamics of wettability alteration during low salinity waterflooding

Novel insights into pore-scale dynamics of wettability alteration during low salinity waterflooding

Investigating the Influences of Pore-Scale Characteristics on Tight Oil Migration by a Two-Phase Pore Network Model

A Mechanistic Pore-Scale Analysis of the Low-Salinity Effect in Heterogeneously Wetted Porous Media

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