Role of Ionic Composition and Interaction in Oil-Water-Rock Systems during Enhanced Oil Recovery Processes involving Low-Salinity Fluid and CO2 Injection

低矿化度流体和 CO2 注入提高采收率过程中油-水-岩石系统中离子组成和相互作用的作用

• 批准号: RGPIN-2019-04841
• 负责人: Sarma, Hemanta
• 金额: $ 2.4万
• 依托单位: University of Calgary
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=737896
• 关键词: Role; Ionic; Composition; Interaction; Oil

Today, exploration for new oilfields is a high-risk venture due to the low oil price. Therefore, a logical lower-cost alternative is to target and extract residual oil from the already discovered and developed oil reservoirs, particularly the Canadian light-oil reservoirs with an estimated oil reserve of 5.5 billion barrels. Even a single percent improvement in the recovery of oil from these reservoirs will yield rich dividends for Canada. My program has a direct relevance to such reservoirs in Canada and elsewhere, where the traditional waterflood has performed poorly due to unfavorable rock wettability and high post-flood residual oil saturation, thus making a difference between a successful and a marginal project, particularly in the current low-oil price environment. The unfavorable rock wettability, in particular, leads to poor relative permeability characteristics for the oil, and this in turn, causes the premature breakthrough of the injected water in production wells resulting in a much lower-than-expected oil recovery factor.     My research aims to find solutions to overcome or diminish the effects of unfavorable rock wettability by making changes in the ionic composition and salinity of the injected water. In this program, I will also explore how some of these light-oil Canadian reservoirs can be utilized, concomitantly, to sequester CO2 and recover oil. Therefore, this program has dual objectives: EOR and partial CO2 sequestration through an EOR process.     A systematic approach has been charted to meet the program objectives through a well-defined work plan comprising both modeling and experimental studies. The program includes a fundamental study of water geochemistry and key rock-fluid geochemical reactions under various ionic compositions. This is followed by a study of CO2 EOR with an optimized composition of the injected water to partly sequester CO2 in the reservoir. It will generate a new water chemistry to improve waterflood oil recovery as well as quantify the CO2 sequestration potential during CO2 EOR processes.     Geochemical reactions and transport models developed in the program will be validated through specially-designed laboratory tests to study oil-rock-brine interactions, wettability alteration, relative permeability and surface-charge behavior, ionic transport, and finally, the oil recovery and CO2 fixation in the rock. This will be followed by additional validation using representative rock-fluid samples and data from a few selected Canadian light-oil reservoirs to establish the lab-to-field linkage of the program outcomes.     During the course of the program, I will provide comprehensive research-based training in advanced modeling and laboratory studies to 7 HQPs, who will also engage synergistically in scholarly outreach, contributions and interactions with peers in dissemination of our findings through refereed journals, conferences and other such knowledge-sharing platforms, like forums and workshops.

如今，由于低油价，勘探新油田是一项高风险的冒险。因此，一个合理的低成本替代方案是从已经发现和开发的油藏中提取剩余油，特别是加拿大轻油油藏，估计石油储量为55亿桶。即使这些油藏的石油采收率提高百分之一，也会给加拿大带来丰厚的收益。我的项目与加拿大和其他地方的此类油藏直接相关，在这些油藏中，由于不利的岩石润湿性和高驱后剩余油饱和度，传统的注水效果不佳，从而导致成功项目与边际项目之间的差异，特别是在当前低油价环境下。不利的岩石润湿性尤其会导致石油相对渗透率差，进而导致生产井中注入水过早突破，导致采收率远低于预期。我的研究旨在通过改变注入水的离子组成和盐度，找到克服或减少不利岩石润湿性影响的解决方案。在这个项目中，我还将探索如何同时利用加拿大的一些轻质油油藏来隔离二氧化碳和回收石油。因此，该项目具有双重目标：提高采收率和通过提高采收率过程封存部分二氧化碳。通过定义明确的工作计划，包括建模和实验研究，制定了一套系统的方法来满足项目目标。该计划包括水地球化学的基础研究和不同离子组成下的关键岩石-流体地球化学反应。随后进行了二氧化碳提高采收率的研究，优化了注入水的成分，以部分隔绝储层中的二氧化碳。它将产生一种新的水化学，以提高水驱采收率，并量化二氧化碳EOR过程中的二氧化碳封存潜力。该项目开发的地球化学反应和输运模型将通过专门设计的实验室测试进行验证，以研究油-岩-盐水相互作用、润湿性改变、相对渗透率和表面电荷行为、离子输运，最后研究岩石中的石油采收率和二氧化碳固定。随后，将使用代表性的岩石流体样本和来自几个选定的加拿大轻油油藏的数据进行额外验证，以建立项目结果的实验室到现场的联系。在项目过程中，我将为7名hqp提供全面的基于研究的高级建模和实验室研究培训，他们还将协同参与学术推广、贡献和与同行的互动，通过评审期刊、会议和其他知识共享平台（如论坛和研讨会）传播我们的发现。