Current Progress and Development Trend of Gas Injection to Enhance Gas Recovery in Gas Reservoirs

Baicen Lin (), Yunsheng Wei, Shusheng Gao, Liyou Ye, Huaxun Liu, Wenqing Zhu, Jianzhong Zhang and Donghuan Han
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Baicen Lin: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, Beijing 100083, China
Yunsheng Wei: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, Beijing 100083, China
Shusheng Gao: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, Beijing 100083, China
Liyou Ye: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, Beijing 100083, China
Huaxun Liu: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, Beijing 100083, China
Wenqing Zhu: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, Beijing 100083, China
Jianzhong Zhang: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, Beijing 100083, China
Donghuan Han: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, Beijing 100083, China

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 7, 1-24

Abstract: Conventional recovery enhancement techniques are aimed at reducing the abandonment pressure, but there is an upper limit for recovery enhancement due to the energy limitation of reservoirs. Gas injection for energy supplementation has become an effective way to enhance gas recovery by reducing hydrocarbon saturation in gas reservoirs. This review systematically investigates progress in gas injection for enhanced gas recovery in three aspects: experiments, numerical simulations and field examples. It summarizes and analyzes the current research results on gas injection for EGR and explores further prospects for future research. The research results show the following: (1) Based on the differences in the physical properties of CO 2 , N 2 and natural gas, effective cushion gas can be formed in bottom reservoirs after gas injection to achieve the effects of pressurization, energy replenishment and gravity differentiation water resistance. However, further experimental evaluation is needed for the degree of increase in penetration ability. (2) It is more beneficial to inject N 2 before CO 2 or the mixture of N 2 and CO 2 in terms of EGR effect and cost. (3) According to numerical simulation studies, water drive and condensate gas reservoirs exhibit significant recovery effects, while CO 2 -EGR in depleted gas reservoirs is more advantageous for burial and storage; current numerical simulations only focus on mobility mass and saturation changes and lack a mixed-phase percolation model, which leads to insufficient analysis of injection strategies and a lack of distinction among different gas extraction effects. Therefore, a mixed-phase-driven percolation model that can characterize the fluid flow path is worth studying in depth. (4) The De Wijk and Budafa Szinfelleti projects have shown that gas injection into water drive and depleted reservoirs has a large advantage for EGR, as it can enhance recovery by more than 10%. More experiments, simulation studies and demonstration projects are needed to promote the development of gas injection technology for enhanced recovery in the future.

Keywords: enhanced gas recovery (EGR); gas injection mechanism; gas reservoir; degree of EGR effect (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: 2024
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