Enhanced Oil Recovery by Cyclic Injection of Wettability Alteration Agent for Tight Reservoirs
Low primary recovery factor and rapid production decline necessitates the proposal of enhanced oil recovery methods to mobilize the remaining oil resource of tight reservoirs, especially for oil-wet ones, and wettability alteration by injecting a chemical agent such as a surfactant is a promising op...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Geofluids |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/4533585 |
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| _version_ | 1832561597741006848 |
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| author | Zhijie Wei Yuyang Liu Xiaodong Kang |
| author_facet | Zhijie Wei Yuyang Liu Xiaodong Kang |
| author_sort | Zhijie Wei |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Low primary recovery factor and rapid production decline necessitates the proposal of enhanced oil recovery methods to mobilize the remaining oil resource of tight reservoirs, especially for oil-wet ones, and wettability alteration by injecting a chemical agent such as a surfactant is a promising option. A discrete-fracture-network-based mathematical model is developed with consideration of the displacement mechanisms and complicated physical-chemical phenomena during EOR by wettability alteration, and this model numerically solved by the fully implicit method. Simulation cases are conducted to investigate the production performance and key factors of cyclic injection of a surfactant. Cyclic injection can significantly improve the production of oil-wet tight reservoirs, and the ultimate recovery factor can be increased by 10 percent. The reason is that a surfactant can alter the wettability of a reservoir from oil wet to medium or even water wet, which triggers spontaneous imbibition and favors oil movement from a matrix into a fracture. Better EOR results can be achieved with decreasing oil viscosity, increasing matrix permeability, or decreasing fracture spacing. Cyclic surfactant injection is applicable to reservoirs with an oil viscosity of less than 7 mPa·s, a matrix permeability bigger than 0.01 mD, or a fracture spacing smaller than 150 m. It is favorable for the wettability alteration method by maintaining capillary pressure and reducing residual oil saturation as much as possible. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-dcb2be5ba75c4e1490710ca605fe61ab |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1468-8115 1468-8123 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geofluids |
| spelling | doaj-art-dcb2be5ba75c4e1490710ca605fe61ab2025-02-03T01:24:43ZengWileyGeofluids1468-81151468-81232021-01-01202110.1155/2021/45335854533585Enhanced Oil Recovery by Cyclic Injection of Wettability Alteration Agent for Tight ReservoirsZhijie Wei0Yuyang Liu1Xiaodong Kang2State Key Laboratory of Offshore Oil Exploitation, Beijing 100028, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Offshore Oil Exploitation, Beijing 100028, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Offshore Oil Exploitation, Beijing 100028, ChinaLow primary recovery factor and rapid production decline necessitates the proposal of enhanced oil recovery methods to mobilize the remaining oil resource of tight reservoirs, especially for oil-wet ones, and wettability alteration by injecting a chemical agent such as a surfactant is a promising option. A discrete-fracture-network-based mathematical model is developed with consideration of the displacement mechanisms and complicated physical-chemical phenomena during EOR by wettability alteration, and this model numerically solved by the fully implicit method. Simulation cases are conducted to investigate the production performance and key factors of cyclic injection of a surfactant. Cyclic injection can significantly improve the production of oil-wet tight reservoirs, and the ultimate recovery factor can be increased by 10 percent. The reason is that a surfactant can alter the wettability of a reservoir from oil wet to medium or even water wet, which triggers spontaneous imbibition and favors oil movement from a matrix into a fracture. Better EOR results can be achieved with decreasing oil viscosity, increasing matrix permeability, or decreasing fracture spacing. Cyclic surfactant injection is applicable to reservoirs with an oil viscosity of less than 7 mPa·s, a matrix permeability bigger than 0.01 mD, or a fracture spacing smaller than 150 m. It is favorable for the wettability alteration method by maintaining capillary pressure and reducing residual oil saturation as much as possible.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/4533585 |
| spellingShingle | Zhijie Wei Yuyang Liu Xiaodong Kang Enhanced Oil Recovery by Cyclic Injection of Wettability Alteration Agent for Tight Reservoirs Geofluids |
| title | Enhanced Oil Recovery by Cyclic Injection of Wettability Alteration Agent for Tight Reservoirs |
| title_full | Enhanced Oil Recovery by Cyclic Injection of Wettability Alteration Agent for Tight Reservoirs |
| title_fullStr | Enhanced Oil Recovery by Cyclic Injection of Wettability Alteration Agent for Tight Reservoirs |
| title_full_unstemmed | Enhanced Oil Recovery by Cyclic Injection of Wettability Alteration Agent for Tight Reservoirs |
| title_short | Enhanced Oil Recovery by Cyclic Injection of Wettability Alteration Agent for Tight Reservoirs |
| title_sort | enhanced oil recovery by cyclic injection of wettability alteration agent for tight reservoirs |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/4533585 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT zhijiewei enhancedoilrecoverybycyclicinjectionofwettabilityalterationagentfortightreservoirs AT yuyangliu enhancedoilrecoverybycyclicinjectionofwettabilityalterationagentfortightreservoirs AT xiaodongkang enhancedoilrecoverybycyclicinjectionofwettabilityalterationagentfortightreservoirs |