Numerical Simulation via CFD Methods of Nitrogen Flooding in Carbonate Fractured-Vuggy Reservoirs

Kexing Li, Bowen Chen, Wanfen Pu, Jianhai Wang, Yongliang Liu, Mikhail Varfolomeev and Chengdong Yuan
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Kexing Li: State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation (SWPU), Chengdu 610500, China
Bowen Chen: School of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China
Wanfen Pu: State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation (SWPU), Chengdu 610500, China
Jianhai Wang: Northwest Oilfield Company, Sinopec, Urumqi 830011, China
Yongliang Liu: Northeast Sichuan Gasfield, PetroChina Southwest Oil and Gas Field Company, Dazhou 635000, China
Mikhail Varfolomeev: State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation (SWPU), Chengdu 610500, China
Chengdong Yuan: State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation (SWPU), Chengdu 610500, China

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 22, 1-18

Abstract: A reservoir-scale numerical conceptual model was established according to the actual geological characteristics of a carbonate fractured-vuggy reservoir. Considering the difference in density and viscosity of fluids under reservoir conditions, CFD (computational fluid dynamic) porous medium model was applied to simulate the process of nitrogen displacement in a fractured-vuggy reservoir after water flooding. The effects of gas injection rate, injection mode, and injector–producer location relation were studied. The results show that nitrogen flooding can yield additional oil recovery of 7–15% after water flooding. Low-speed nitrogen injection is beneficial in obtaining higher oil recovery. High speed injection can expand the sweep area, but gas channeling occurs more easily. In gas–water mixed injection mode, there is fluid disturbance in the reservoir. The gas channeling is faster in low injector–high producer mode, while the high injector–low producer mode is beneficial for increasing the gas sweep range. Nevertheless, the increment of recovery is closely related to well pattern. After nitrogen flooding, there are still a lot of remaining oil distributed in the trap area of gas cap and bottom water in the reservoir that water and gas injection can’t sweep. The establishment of the numerical conceptual model compensates for the deficiency of physical simulation research, stating that only limited parameters can be simulated during experiments, and provides theoretical bases for nitrogen flooding in fractured-vuggy reservoir.

Keywords: fractured-vuggy reservoir; nitrogen flooding; numerical simulation; computational fluid dynamic; enhanced oil recovery (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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