Open AccessImproved efficiency of miscible CO{sub 2} floods and enhanced prospects for CO{sub 2} flooding heterogeneous reservoirs. Annual report, April 18, 1995--April 17, 1996
Author(s) -
R B Grigg,
D S Schechter
Publication year - 1996
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/395636
Subject(s) - flooding (psychology) , enhanced oil recovery , petroleum engineering , porous medium , environmental science , brine , reservoir simulation , multiphase flow , porosity , geology , geotechnical engineering , chemistry , mechanics , psychology , psychotherapist , physics , organic chemistry
The overall goal of this project is to improve the efficiency of miscible CO{sub 2} floods and enhance the prospects for flooding heterogeneous reservoirs. This objective is being accomplished by extending experimental and modeling research in three task areas: (1) foams for selective mobility control in heterogeneous reservoirs, (2) reduction of the amount of CO{sub 2} required in CO{sub 2} floods, and (3) low IFT processes and the possibility of CO{sub 2} flooding in fractured reservoirs. This report provides results of the second year of the three-year project for each of the three task areas. In the first task, we are investigating a desirable characteristic of CO{sub 2}-foam called Selective Mobility Reduction (SMR) that results in an improvement in displacement efficiency by reducing the effects of reservoir heterogeneity. Research on SMR of foam during the past year has focused on three subjects: (1) to verify SMR in different rock permeabilities that are in capillary contact; (2) to test additional surfactants for the SMR property; and (3) to develop a modeling approach to assess the oil recovery efficiency of SMR in CO{sub 2}-foam on a reservoir scale. The experimental results from the composite cores suggest that the rock heterogeneity has significant effect on two phase (CO{sub 2}/brine) flow behavior in porous media, and that foam can favorably control CO{sub 2} mobility. The numerical modeling results suggest that foam with SMR can substantially increase the sweep efficiency and therefore improve oil recovery