Molecular Modeling of Phase Behavior and Flow in Shale Porous Media

过去几年，页岩气和致密油行业的蓬勃发展激发了人们对勘探和生产活动的浓厚兴趣。据估计，加拿大可开采的页岩气储量为573万亿立方英尺，可以提供100年的天然气供应。建立可靠的油气相行为和流动模型是预测页岩气和致密油产量的关键。然而，非常规页岩储层与常规储层有很大的不同，常规储层中的油气通常储存在裂缝和大于100 nm的大孔隙中。页岩储层的复杂性源于页岩中广泛分布的纳米孔。纳米孔可能会导致大量碳氢化合物的吸附，并且无法用传统的建模方法来描述。在纳米尺度下，流体分子在孔隙中的分布是不均匀的，表面吸附在相行为和流动中起主导作用。在我们的研究项目中，我们将使用分子模型和模拟来明确考虑分子间和流体表面的相互作用。我们研究小组的首要目标是为页岩储层提供可靠的相行为和流动模型。在本提案中概述的研究计划中，我们将朝着开发可靠的模型的方向迈出一步，以解决在页岩地层中烃类流体和流动的准确估计方面的挑战，而我们对这些挑战的了解并不完全，无法建立一个基本和全面的模型。这个项目的活动使用了深刻的数学概念和对物理的透彻理解，以产生可靠的指导方针，可供石油工业从业者和其他研究人员使用。该项目的教育目标是让未来的HQP了解对页岩气和致密油可靠建模非常重要的基本知识，并教他们提取这些知识的基本特征，为实际页岩生产做出贡献。所提出的计划所产生的预期贡献有可能显著推进对纳米约束下碳氢化合物相行为和流动的基本理解。这项研究的结果将导致页岩纳米多孔介质中相行为和流动的更准确和可靠的建模，并为储层模拟提供重要的见解。这将有助于对原位流体的优化评价和油气开采工艺的设计。这将有助于为运营公司带来更高的净现值，并使加拿大的页岩气生产更具经济可行性。

Booming in the shale gas and tight oil industry in the past few years has stimulated profound interest in exploration and production activities. The recoverable shale gas in Canada is estimated to be 573 trillion cubic feet, which can provide 100 years of natural gas supply. Studies directed towards the development of reliable phase behavior and flow modeling of hydrocarbons is key to predict the gas and tight oil production from shale formations. However, shale unconventional reservoirs are very different from the conventional reservoirs where hydrocarbons are stored in fractures and big pores which are generally larger than 100 nm. The complexity of shale reservoirs arises from the widely distributed nanopores in shale. Nanopores may result in a large share of adsorption of hydrocarbons and cannot be described by conventional modeling approaches. At nanoscale, distributions of fluid molecules within the pores are inhomogeneous and surface adsorption plays a dominant role in phase behavior and flow. In our research projects, we will use molecular modeling and simulations to explicitly take into account the intermolecular and fluid-surface interactions. It is the overarching goal of our research group to provide reliable phase behavior and flow modeling in shale reservoirs. In the research program outlined in this proposal, we will take the step towards developing a reliable modeling for addressing the challenges in the accurate estimation of hydrocarbon fluid-in-place and flow in shale formation where we have incomplete knowledge to build a fundamental and comprehensive model. Activities in this program use deep mathematical concepts and a thorough understanding of physics to produce reliable guidelines that can be used by practitioners in petroleum industry and by other researchers. The education objective of this program is to expose future HQP to fundamental understandings that are very important to develop reliable modeling for shale gas and tight oil, and to teach them to distill the essential features of these knowledge to make contributions to real-life shale production. The expected contributions arising from the proposed program have the potential to significantly advance the fundamental understandings toward phase behavior and flow of hydrocarbons under nano-confinement. The outcomes of this research will lead to a more accurate and reliable modeling of phase behavior and flow in shale nanoporous media and provide important insights into reservoir simulations. It will facilitate the optimized estimation of fluid-in-place and design of hydrocarbon recovery process. This could help generate a much higher net present value for operating companies and make shale production in Canada more economically feasible.