Study on Influencing Factors of Water Huff-n-Puff Oil Recovery in Matrix-Fracture Systems of the Tight Sedimentary Tuff Reservoirs

Abstract

Tight sedimentary tuff reservoirs (TSTRs) are a new type of tight oil reservoirs, which are mainly developed by water huff-n-puff (WHP). However, there is no quantitative study on the effect of water injection pressure (WIP) and fracture density (FD) on the oil recovery effect of WHP, and the reasons for the low flow-back rate (FR) of the injected water are also not fully explained. In this study, the real cores of TSTRs were used to simulate the seepage state of the matrix-fracture systems of the reservoir, the effects of WIP and FD on the WHP were quantitatively studied, and the reasons for the low FR of the injected water were comprehensively analyzed. The result shows that in five cycles of WHP, the recovery factor (RF) of the core only increases from 8.72 to 10.91% with the WIP increasing from 25 to 30 MPa. However, when the WIP is 40 MPa (rock breakdown pressure), the RF of the core reaches 16.47%, indicating that overfracture-pressure water injection has an obvious improvement effect on the oil recovery effect of WHP in TSTRs. Increasing the FD can also significantly improve the RF and oil recovery efficiency (ORE) of WHP in TSTRs. When the FD of the core increases from 0.34 to 0.44 cm –1 , the RF of five cycles of WHP increases by 9.26%, the ORE increases by 8.61%, and the FR of the injected water decreases by 0.56%. The reasons for the low FR of the injected water in WHP in tight oil reservoirs are matrix water locking, fracture water locking, and reservoir nonconstant-volume water locking. The study can provide an important reference for the efficient development of the WHP in TSTRs.

Oil Production Mechanism of Water Injection Huff-n-Puff for Enhancing Oil Recovery in Tight Sandstone Reservoir

“…The maximum pressure during injection process is 6–11 MPa, while that during the production process is 1.6–2 MPa. The pressure loss may be caused by the matrix water lock, fracture water lock, and reservoir nonconstant volume water lock …”

“…The pressure loss may be caused by the matrix water lock, fracture water lock, and reservoir nonconstant volume water lock. 13 It can be seen from Figure 6 that with the extension of production time, the recovery curve and water cut curve can be divided into three stages. In the first stage (0−750 s), the oil recovery and water cut change gently.…”

“…These ideas include carbon dioxide injection, , nitrogen injection, water injection, and water-based solutions injection . Burrows et al discussed in detail the mechanism of enhanced oil recovery by high pressure carbon dioxide, natural gas, ethane, nitrogen, and water-based solutions. , The results show that carbon dioxide and rich natural gas have the most potential to enhance oil recovery. , Based on the characteristics of nanoscale pore sizes, low porosity, and low pore connectivity in tight oil reservoirs, huff-n-puff injection is the most successful and widely applied implementation strategy. , Therefore, EOR technology that combines horizontal well volume fracturing and carbon dioxide huff-n-puff has received more attention. , Bai proposed an enhanced oil recovery technology by the combination of horizontal well volume fracturing and CO 2 huff-n-puff, which was successfully applied to six fractured horizontal wells and achieved good oil increase effect . Pu conducted hydraulic fracturing and carbon dioxide huff-n-puff experiments using a true triaxial stress core fracturing and displacement system .…”

“…11,12 Based on the characteristics of nanoscale pore sizes, low porosity, and low pore connectivity in tight oil reservoirs, huff-n-puff injection is the most successful and widely applied implementation strategy. 13,14 Therefore, EOR technology that combines horizontal well volume fracturing and carbon dioxide huff-n-puff has received more attention. 15,16 Bai proposed an enhanced oil recovery technology by the combination of horizontal well volume fracturing and CO 2 huff-n-puff, which was successfully applied to six fractured horizontal wells and achieved good oil increase effect.…”