Simulation Study of Permeability Impairment Due to Asphaltene Deposition In One of the Iranian Oil Fractured Reservoirs

Abstract

This work concerns with simulation of permeability impairment as a result of asphaltene deposition at the field scale, which is a real situation of oil production from petroleum reservoirs.The involved processes are the initial precipitation of asphaltene from the reservoir fluid, the flocculation of these precipitates into larger particles and the deposition of these particles in porous media. The alteration of porosity and the impairment of permeability due to asphaltene deposition are also investigated.The case study reveals that the static surface deposition may occur in certain situations even without the fluid flowing. However, during flow, the dynamic surface deposition is predominant. The plugging deposition may occur under certain conditions, depending on properties of the fluid, porous media, asphaltene precipitates, injection rate and pressure conditions.In addition, the effect of fracture properties on asphaltene deposition at reservoir condition was investigated. The developed dual-porosity and dual permeability simulation model also has been used for some sensitivity analysis of parameters affecting asphaltene deposition in reservoir. The results of sensitivity analysis showed that dynamic and static 2 parameters of asphaltene play crucial role in the field performance and formation damage. Also, the results confirmed that, the permeability reduction due to asphaltene deposition in the fractures is more considerable than in the matrix media.