Numerical Tracking of Natural Gas Migration in Underground Gas Storage with Multilayered Sandstone and Fault-Bearing Caprocks

Shengnan Ban, Hejuan Liu (), Haijun Mao, Xilin Shi, Xiaosong Qiu, Mancang Liu, Zhongshun Min, Yujia Song and Xinxing Wei
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Shengnan Ban: State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
Hejuan Liu: State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
Haijun Mao: State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
Xilin Shi: State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
Xiaosong Qiu: Key Laboratory of Underground Storage of Oil and Gas Engineer of China National Petroleum Corporation, Langfang 065007, China
Mancang Liu: Key Laboratory of Underground Storage of Oil and Gas Engineer of China National Petroleum Corporation, Langfang 065007, China
Zhongshun Min: Liaohe Oilfield of China National Petroleum Corporation, Panjin 124010, China
Yujia Song: State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
Xinxing Wei: State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 13, 1-20

Abstract: The structure of caprocks is often greatly altered by different scales of faults or fissures in long-term geological tectonic evolution, and the sealing performance may be deteriorated. In this paper, a simplified geological model characterized as multilayered sandstone and fault-bearing caprocks extracted from the Shuang 6 underground gas storage located in the Liaohe oilfield was established. Different fault geometry (e.g., fault length, fault dip angle, and fault type) and seepage attributes (porosity and permeability) were considered to illustrate their impacts on natural gas migration during the cyclic high rate of injection and production of natural gas. The results showed that the seepage anisotropy and the natural gas front are strongly affected by the formation properties and, especially, are hindered by the low permeability sandstone layers. The difference in the lateral migration distance of natural gas in different layers can reach 110 m at the end of the injection period, with an annual injection volume of 10 8 m 3 . The migration of natural gas along the fault zone is mainly controlled by the permeability of faults, followed by fault scale, fault dip angle, and fault type. The sealing failure of caprocks in the fault zone does not occur based on the simulated gas migration distribution, showing that a very limited amount of natural gas migrates into the caprocks.

Keywords: fault; heterogeneity; pore pressure; sealing performance; migration (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: 2023
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