The Supercritical Multithermal Fluid Flooding Investigation: Experiments and Numerical Simulation for Deep Offshore Heavy Oil Reservoirs

The supercritical multithermal fluids (SCMTF) were developed for deep offshore heavy oil reservoirs. However, its EOR mechanisms are still unclear, and its numerical simulation method is deficient. In this study, a series of sandpack flooding experiments were first performed to investigate the viabi...

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Main Authors: Xianhong Tan, Wei Zheng, Taichao Wang, Guojin Zhu, Xiaofei Sun, Xiaoyu Li
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2021-01-01
Series:Geofluids
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/5589543
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author Xianhong Tan
Wei Zheng
Taichao Wang
Guojin Zhu
Xiaofei Sun
Xiaoyu Li
author_facet Xianhong Tan
Wei Zheng
Taichao Wang
Guojin Zhu
Xiaofei Sun
Xiaoyu Li
author_sort Xianhong Tan
collection DOAJ
description The supercritical multithermal fluids (SCMTF) were developed for deep offshore heavy oil reservoirs. However, its EOR mechanisms are still unclear, and its numerical simulation method is deficient. In this study, a series of sandpack flooding experiments were first performed to investigate the viability of SCMTF flooding. Then, a novel numerical model for SCMTF flooding was developed based on the experimental results to characterize the flooding processes and to study the effects of injection parameters on oil recovery on a lab scale. Finally, the performance of SCMTF flooding in a practical deep offshore oil field was evaluated through simulation. The experiment results show that the SCMTF flooding gave the highest oil recovery of 80.89%, which was 29.60% higher than that of the steam flooding and 11.09% higher than that of SCW flooding. The history matching process illustrated that the average errors of 3.24% in oil recovery and of 4.33% in pressure difference confirm that the developed numerical model can precisely simulate the dynamic of SCMTF flooding. Increases in temperature, pressure, and the mole ratio of scN2 and scCO2 mixture to SCW benefit the heavy oil production. However, too much increase in temperature resulted in formation damage. In addition, an excess of scN2 and scCO2 contributed to an early SCMTF breakthrough. The field-scale simulation indicated that compared to steam flooding, the SCMTF flooding increased cumulative oil production by 27122 m3 due to higher reservoir temperature, expanded heating area, and lower oil viscosity, suggesting that the SCMTF flooding is feasible in enhancing offshore heavy oil recovery.
format Article
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institution Kabale University
issn 1468-8115
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language English
publishDate 2021-01-01
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series Geofluids
spelling doaj-art-71ed9e4fb21d4b45b63b73e7d00c77ea2025-08-20T03:33:45ZengWileyGeofluids1468-81151468-81232021-01-01202110.1155/2021/55895435589543The Supercritical Multithermal Fluid Flooding Investigation: Experiments and Numerical Simulation for Deep Offshore Heavy Oil ReservoirsXianhong Tan0Wei Zheng1Taichao Wang2Guojin Zhu3Xiaofei Sun4Xiaoyu Li5State Key Laboratory of Offshore Oil Exploitation, Beijing 100028, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Offshore Oil Exploitation, Beijing 100028, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Offshore Oil Exploitation, Beijing 100028, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Offshore Oil Exploitation, Beijing 100028, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Offshore Oil Exploitation, Beijing 100028, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Offshore Oil Exploitation, Beijing 100028, ChinaThe supercritical multithermal fluids (SCMTF) were developed for deep offshore heavy oil reservoirs. However, its EOR mechanisms are still unclear, and its numerical simulation method is deficient. In this study, a series of sandpack flooding experiments were first performed to investigate the viability of SCMTF flooding. Then, a novel numerical model for SCMTF flooding was developed based on the experimental results to characterize the flooding processes and to study the effects of injection parameters on oil recovery on a lab scale. Finally, the performance of SCMTF flooding in a practical deep offshore oil field was evaluated through simulation. The experiment results show that the SCMTF flooding gave the highest oil recovery of 80.89%, which was 29.60% higher than that of the steam flooding and 11.09% higher than that of SCW flooding. The history matching process illustrated that the average errors of 3.24% in oil recovery and of 4.33% in pressure difference confirm that the developed numerical model can precisely simulate the dynamic of SCMTF flooding. Increases in temperature, pressure, and the mole ratio of scN2 and scCO2 mixture to SCW benefit the heavy oil production. However, too much increase in temperature resulted in formation damage. In addition, an excess of scN2 and scCO2 contributed to an early SCMTF breakthrough. The field-scale simulation indicated that compared to steam flooding, the SCMTF flooding increased cumulative oil production by 27122 m3 due to higher reservoir temperature, expanded heating area, and lower oil viscosity, suggesting that the SCMTF flooding is feasible in enhancing offshore heavy oil recovery.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/5589543
spellingShingle Xianhong Tan
Wei Zheng
Taichao Wang
Guojin Zhu
Xiaofei Sun
Xiaoyu Li
The Supercritical Multithermal Fluid Flooding Investigation: Experiments and Numerical Simulation for Deep Offshore Heavy Oil Reservoirs
Geofluids
title The Supercritical Multithermal Fluid Flooding Investigation: Experiments and Numerical Simulation for Deep Offshore Heavy Oil Reservoirs
title_full The Supercritical Multithermal Fluid Flooding Investigation: Experiments and Numerical Simulation for Deep Offshore Heavy Oil Reservoirs
title_fullStr The Supercritical Multithermal Fluid Flooding Investigation: Experiments and Numerical Simulation for Deep Offshore Heavy Oil Reservoirs
title_full_unstemmed The Supercritical Multithermal Fluid Flooding Investigation: Experiments and Numerical Simulation for Deep Offshore Heavy Oil Reservoirs
title_short The Supercritical Multithermal Fluid Flooding Investigation: Experiments and Numerical Simulation for Deep Offshore Heavy Oil Reservoirs
title_sort supercritical multithermal fluid flooding investigation experiments and numerical simulation for deep offshore heavy oil reservoirs
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/5589543
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