Review on Changes in Shale Oil Property During CO 2 Injection

Xiang Li, Songtao Wu (), Yue Shen and Chanfei Wang
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Xiang Li: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development (RIPED), China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Beijing 100083, China
Songtao Wu: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development (RIPED), China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Beijing 100083, China
Yue Shen: State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Chanfei Wang: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development (RIPED), China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Beijing 100083, China

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 5, 1-21

Abstract: The influence of supercritical CO 2 on the properties of petroleum has become the focus of academic and industrial attention internationally. CO 2 has been shown in laboratory studies and in field applications of shale oil to be an effective oil displacement agent. In this paper, the research progress of the interaction between CO 2 and crude oil is investigated from three perspectives: (i) the research methods of the interaction experiment between CO 2 and crude oil; (ii) the influence of CO 2 on oil property and the primary controlling factors; and (iii) the cause, influence, and harm of CO 2 -induced asphaltene precipitation. Our current knowledge on this topic is as follows: (1) Physical simulation can investigate the effects of various variables on CO 2 displacement, which is in situ and intuitive. Numerical simulation can investigate the displacement principle at the microscopic molecular level and also scale up the results of physical simulation to the macroscopic scale of oilfield production to explore the long-term large-scale injection rules; (2) after entering the formation, CO 2 dissolves in crude oil, expands the volume of crude oil, reduces the viscosity, improves the oil–water mobility ratio, reduces the oil–water interfacial tension, and extracts light hydrocarbons to form a miscible displacement zone; (3) after CO 2 is injected into the formation and dissolves in crude oil, it occupies the surface space of asphaltenes and causes asphaltenes to precipitate. Under the combined influence of internal and external factors, the precipitation of asphaltenes has a significant impact on the physical properties of the reservoir. Clarifying the influencing factors of CO 2 on the property of crude oil has reference significance for understanding the reaction characteristics between supercritical CO 2 and formation fluids, providing a theoretical basis for CO 2 injection enhanced oil recovery technology, and has reference value for carbon storage research.

Keywords: CO 2 injection; enhanced oil recovery; asphaltene precipitation; influencing factor (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: 2025
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