Pore-Scale Simulation of Confined Phase Behavior with Pore Size Distribution and Its Effects on Shale Oil Production

Jingwei Huang and Hongsheng Wang
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Jingwei Huang: Department of Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3116, USA
Hongsheng Wang: Mining & Minerals Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-17

Abstract: Confined phase behavior plays a critical role in predicting production from shale reservoirs. In this work, a pseudo-potential lattice Boltzmann method is applied to directly model the phase equilibrium of fluids in nanopores. First, vapor-liquid equilibrium is simulated by capturing the sudden jump on simulated adsorption isotherms in a capillary tube. In addition, effect of pore size distribution on phase equilibrium is evaluated by using a bundle of capillary tubes of various sizes. Simulated coexistence curves indicate that an effective pore size can be used to account for the effects of pore size distribution on confined phase behavior. With simulated coexistence curves from pore-scale simulation, a modified equation of state is built and applied to model the thermodynamic phase diagram of shale oil. Shifted critical properties and suppressed bubble points are observed when effects of confinement is considered. The compositional simulation shows that both predicted oil and gas production will be higher if the modified equation of state is implemented. Results are compared with those using methods of capillary pressure and critical shift.

Keywords: vapor-liquid equilibrium; pore size distribution; lattice Boltzmann method; compositional simulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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