Measuring Capillary Pressure and Relative Permeability in a Single Centrifuge Experiment

1985 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.J. O'Meara ◽  
J.G. Crump
Keyword(s):  
Capillary Pressure ◽  
Relative Permeability

A Machine Learning Methodology for Rock-Typing Using Relative Permeability Curves

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Esteban Alfonso ◽  
Frédérique Fournier ◽  
Victor Alcobia
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Capillary Pressure ◽  
Relative Permeability ◽  
Fractional Flow ◽  
Flow Curves ◽  
Rock Types ◽  
Rock Typing ◽  
Relative Permeability Curves ◽  
Permeability Data

Abstract The determination of the petrophysical rock-types often lacks the inclusion of measured multiphase flow properties as the relative permeability curves. This is either the consequence of a limited number of SCAL relative permeability experiments, or due to the difficulty of linking the relative permeability characteristics to standard rock-types stemming from porosity, permeability and capillary pressure. However, as soon as the number of relative permeability curves is significant, they can be processed under the machine learning methodology stated by this paper. The process leads to an automatic definition of relative permeability based rock-types, from a precise and objective characterization of the curve shapes, which would not be achieved with a manual process. It improves the characterization of petrophysical rock-types, prior to their use in static and dynamic modeling. The machine learning approach analyzes the shapes of curves for their automatic classification. It develops a pattern recognition process combining the use of principal component analysis with a non-supervised clustering scheme. Before this, the set of relative permeability curves are pre-processed (normalization with the integration of irreducible water and residual oil saturations for the SCAL relative permeability samples from an imbibition experiment) and integrated under fractional flow curves. Fractional flow curves proved to be an effective way to unify the relative permeability of the two fluid phases, in a unique curve that characterizes the specific poral efficiency displacement of this rock sample. The methodology has been tested in a real data set from a carbonate reservoir having a significant number of relative permeability curves available for the study, in addition to capillary pressure, porosity and permeability data. The results evidenced the successful grouping of the relative permeability samples, according to their fractional flow curves, which allowed the classification of the rocks from poor to best displacement efficiency. This demonstrates the feasibility of the machine learning process for defining automatically rock-types from relative permeability data. The fractional flow rock-types were compared to rock-types obtained from capillary pressure analysis. The results indicated a lack of correspondence between the two series of rock-types, which testifies the additional information brought by the relative permeability data in a rock-typing study. Our results also expose the importance of having good quality SCAL experiments, with an accurate characterization of the saturation end-points, which are used for the normalization of the curves, and a consistent sampling for both capillary pressure and relative permeability measurements.

Formation Characterization and Production Forecast of Tight Sandstone Formations in Daqing Oilfield Through Digital Rock Technology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danhua Leslie Zhang ◽  
Xiaodong Shi ◽  
Chunyan Qi ◽  
Jianfei Zhan ◽  
Xue Han ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Capillary Pressure ◽  
Relative Permeability ◽  
Surfactant Solution ◽  
Fluid Models ◽  
Pore Scale ◽  
Field Development ◽  
Digital Rock ◽  
Small Pore ◽  
Sem Imaging

Abstract With the decline of conventional resources, the tight oil reserves in the Daqing oilfield are becoming increasingly important, but measuring relative permeability and determining production forecasts through laboratory core flow tests for tight formations are both difficult and time consuming. Results of laboratory testing are questionable due to the very small pore volume and low permeability of the reservoir rock, and there are challenges in controlling critical parameters during the special core analysis (SCAL) tests. In this paper, the protocol and workflow of a digital rock study for tight sandstones of the Daqing oilfield are discussed. The workflow includes 1) using a combination of various imaging methods to build rock models that are representative of reservoir rocks, 2) constructing digital fluid models of reservoir fluids and injectants, 3) applying laboratory measured wettability index data to define rock-fluid interaction in digital rock models, 4) performing pore-scale modelling to accelerate reservoir characterization and reduce the uncertainty, and 5) performing digital enhanced oil recovery (EOR) tests to analyze potential benefits of different scenarios. The target formations are tight (0.01 to 5 md range) sandstones that have a combination of large grain sizes juxtaposed against small pore openings which makes it challenging to select an appropriate set of imaging tools. To overcome the wide range of pore and grain scales, the imaging tools selected for the study included high resolution microCT imaging on core plugs and mini-plugs sampled from original plugs, overview scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging, mineralogical mapping, and high-resolution SEM imaging on the mini-plugs. High resolution digital rock models were constructed and subsequently upscaled to the plug level to differentiate bedding and other features could be differentiated. Permeability and porosity of digital rock models were benchmarked against laboratory measurements to confirm representativeness. The laboratory measured Amott-Harvey wettability index of restored core plugs was honored and applied to the digital rock models. Digital fluid models were built using the fluid PVT data. A Direct HydroDynamic (DHD) pore-scale flow simulator based on density functional hydrodynamics was used to model multiphase flow in the digital experiments. Capillary pressure, water-oil, surfactant solution-oil, and CO2-oil relative permeability were computed, as well as primary depletion followed with three-cycle CO2 huff-n-puff, and primary depletion followed with three-cycle surfactant solution huff-n-puff processes. Recovery factors were obtained for each method and resulting values were compared to establish most effective field development scenarios. The workflow developed in this paper provides fast and reliable means of obtaining critical data for field development design. Capillary pressure and relative permeability data obtained through digital experiments provide key input parameters for reservoir simulation; production scenario forecasts help evaluate various EOR methods. Digital simulations allow the different scenarios to be run on identical rock samples numerous times, which is not possible in the laboratory.

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