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

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 wa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energies (Basel) 2021-11, Vol.14 (22), p.7554
Main Authors: Li, Kexing, Chen, Bowen, Pu, Wanfen, Wang, Jianhai, Liu, Yongliang, Varfolomeev, Mikhail, Yuan, Chengdong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bottom water
Caves
Channeling
computational fluid dynamic
Computer applications
Efficiency
Enhanced oil recovery
Flooding
fractured-vuggy reservoir
Gas injection
High temperature
Injection
Injectors
Low speed
Mathematical models
Nitrogen
nitrogen flooding
numerical simulation
Oil
Oil recovery
Physical simulation
Porous media
Reservoirs
Simulation
Water flooding
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Summary: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.
ISSN:1996-1073
1996-1073
DOI:10.3390/en14227554