Modeling Oil Recovery in Brazilian Carbonate Rock by Engineered Water Injection Using Numerical Simulation
Waterflooding remains the most commonly used method to improve oil recovery. Although the injected brine type is mainly dependent on its availability, few of its characteristics can be controlled during project design. Published laboratory work indicates that the adjustment of injected brine composi...
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doaj-8d27be4820d44f52b37c31c0bae93cae2021-06-01T00:58:46ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732021-05-01143043304310.3390/en14113043Modeling Oil Recovery in Brazilian Carbonate Rock by Engineered Water Injection Using Numerical SimulationFabio Bordeaux-Rego0Jose Adriano Ferreira1Claudio Alberto Salinas Salinas Tejerina2Kamy Sepehrnoori3Center for Subsurface Energy and the Environment, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USAGalp Energia S.A., 1600-209 Lisboa, PortugalGalp Energia S.A., 1600-209 Lisboa, PortugalCenter for Subsurface Energy and the Environment, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USAWaterflooding remains the most commonly used method to improve oil recovery. Although the injected brine type is mainly dependent on its availability, few of its characteristics can be controlled during project design. Published laboratory work indicates that the adjustment of injected brine composition can cause an increase in oil production by wettability alteration. This research objective is to propose a novel four-step framework for modeling improved oil recovery by Engineered Water Injection from laboratory to numerical simulation for carbonate formations. We use a geochemical-based model that estimates contact angles to predict wettability alteration. The steps are (1) screening criteria, (2) geochemical evaluation, (3) wettability alteration modeling, and (4) coreflood history-match. We validate our framework by conducting history-match simulations of Brazilian Pre-Salt corefloods. Incremental oil recovery factors are between 5 to 11%, consistent with those reported during experiments. The reduction in residual oil saturation varied from 3 to 5%. This work is a new systematic procedure to model oil recovery using a comprehensive approach that is fundamental to understanding the underlying wettability alteration mechanisms by Engineered Water Injection.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/11/3043wettability alterationengineered water injectioncarbonate rocksimproved oil recoverygeochemistry |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Fabio Bordeaux-Rego Jose Adriano Ferreira Claudio Alberto Salinas Salinas Tejerina Kamy Sepehrnoori |
spellingShingle |
Fabio Bordeaux-Rego Jose Adriano Ferreira Claudio Alberto Salinas Salinas Tejerina Kamy Sepehrnoori Modeling Oil Recovery in Brazilian Carbonate Rock by Engineered Water Injection Using Numerical Simulation Energies wettability alteration engineered water injection carbonate rocks improved oil recovery geochemistry |
author_facet |
Fabio Bordeaux-Rego Jose Adriano Ferreira Claudio Alberto Salinas Salinas Tejerina Kamy Sepehrnoori |
author_sort |
Fabio Bordeaux-Rego |
title |
Modeling Oil Recovery in Brazilian Carbonate Rock by Engineered Water Injection Using Numerical Simulation |
title_short |
Modeling Oil Recovery in Brazilian Carbonate Rock by Engineered Water Injection Using Numerical Simulation |
title_full |
Modeling Oil Recovery in Brazilian Carbonate Rock by Engineered Water Injection Using Numerical Simulation |
title_fullStr |
Modeling Oil Recovery in Brazilian Carbonate Rock by Engineered Water Injection Using Numerical Simulation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Modeling Oil Recovery in Brazilian Carbonate Rock by Engineered Water Injection Using Numerical Simulation |
title_sort |
modeling oil recovery in brazilian carbonate rock by engineered water injection using numerical simulation |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Energies |
issn |
1996-1073 |
publishDate |
2021-05-01 |
description |
Waterflooding remains the most commonly used method to improve oil recovery. Although the injected brine type is mainly dependent on its availability, few of its characteristics can be controlled during project design. Published laboratory work indicates that the adjustment of injected brine composition can cause an increase in oil production by wettability alteration. This research objective is to propose a novel four-step framework for modeling improved oil recovery by Engineered Water Injection from laboratory to numerical simulation for carbonate formations. We use a geochemical-based model that estimates contact angles to predict wettability alteration. The steps are (1) screening criteria, (2) geochemical evaluation, (3) wettability alteration modeling, and (4) coreflood history-match. We validate our framework by conducting history-match simulations of Brazilian Pre-Salt corefloods. Incremental oil recovery factors are between 5 to 11%, consistent with those reported during experiments. The reduction in residual oil saturation varied from 3 to 5%. This work is a new systematic procedure to model oil recovery using a comprehensive approach that is fundamental to understanding the underlying wettability alteration mechanisms by Engineered Water Injection. |
topic |
wettability alteration engineered water injection carbonate rocks improved oil recovery geochemistry |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/11/3043 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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