Application of EOR Using Water Injection in Carbonate Condensate Reservoirs in the Tarim Basin

Fuxiao Shen, Shiyin Li, Xingliang Deng, Zhiliang Liu, Ping Guo and Guanghui Wu
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Fuxiao Shen: PetroChina Tarim Oilfield Company, Korla 841000, China
Shiyin Li: PetroChina Tarim Oilfield Company, Korla 841000, China
Xingliang Deng: PetroChina Tarim Oilfield Company, Korla 841000, China
Zhiliang Liu: PetroChina Tarim Oilfield Company, Korla 841000, China
Ping Guo: School of Geoscience and Technology, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China
Guanghui Wu: School of Geoscience and Technology, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 11, 1-11

Abstract: The largest carbonate condensate field has been found in the Tarim Basin, NW China. Different from sandstone condensate gas reservoirs, however, the conventional gas injection for pressure maintenance development is not favorable for Ordovician fracture-cave reservoirs. Based on this, in this paper, 21 sets of displacement experiments in full-diameter cores and a pilot test in 11 boreholes were carried out to study enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in complicated carbonate reservoirs. The experimental results show that the seepage channels of the gas condensate reservoirs are fractures, which are quite different from sandstone pore-throat structures. Condensate oil recovery using water injection was up to 57–88% in unfilled fractured caves and at ca. 52–80% in sand-filled fractured caves. These values are much higher than the 14–46% and 17–58% values obtained from the depletion and gas injection experiments, respectively. The water injection in 11 wells showed that the condensate oil recovery increased by 0–17.7% (avg. 3.1%). The effective EOR for residual oil replacement using water injection may be attributed to fractures, as the gas channel leads to an ineffective gas circulation and pipe flow in fracture-cave reservoirs, which is favorable for waterflood development. The complicated fracture network in the deep subsurface may be the key element in the varied and lower oil recovery rates obtained from the wells than from the experiments. This case study provides new insights for the exploitation of similar condensate gas reservoirs.

Keywords: Tarim Basin; fracture-cave reservoir; oil recovery from condensate gas reservoir; water injection; 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: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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