IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v16y2023i5p2311-d1082811.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optimization of CO 2 Huff-n-Puff in Unconventional Reservoirs with a Focus on Pore Confinement Effects, Fluid Types, and Completion Parameters

Author

Listed:
  • Aaditya Khanal

    (The Jasper Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, TX 75799, USA)

  • Md Fahim Shahriar

    (The Jasper Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, TX 75799, USA)

Abstract

The cyclic injection of CO 2 , referred to as the huff-n-puff (HnP) method, is an attractive option to improve oil recovery from unconventional reservoirs. This study evaluates the optimization of the CO 2 HnP method and provides insight into the aspects of CO 2 sequestration for unconventional reservoirs. Furthermore, this study also examines the impact of nanopore confinement, fluid composition, injection solvent, diffusivity parameters, and fracture properties on the long-term recovery factor. The results from over 500 independent simulations showed that the optimal recovery is obtained for the puff-to-huff ratio of around 2.73 with a soak period of fewer than 2.7 days. After numerous HnP cycles, an optimized CO 2 HnP process resulted in about 970-to-1067-ton CO 2 storage per fracture and over 32% recovery, compared to 22% recovery for natural depletion over the 30 years. The optimized CO 2 HnP process also showed higher effectiveness compared to the N 2 HnP scenario. Additionally, for reservoirs with significant pore confinement (pore size ≤ 10 nm), the oil recovery improved by over 3% compared to the unconfined bulk phase properties. We also observed over 300% improvement in recovery factor for a fluid with a significant fraction of light hydrocarbons (C 1 –C 6 ), compared to just a 50% improvement in recovery for a fluid with a substantial fraction of heavy hydrocarbons (C 7 + ). Finally, the results also showed that fracture properties are much more important for CO 2 HnP than natural depletion. This study provides critical insights to optimize and improve CO 2 HnP operations for different fluid phases and fracture properties encountered in unconventional reservoirs.

Suggested Citation

  • Aaditya Khanal & Md Fahim Shahriar, 2023. "Optimization of CO 2 Huff-n-Puff in Unconventional Reservoirs with a Focus on Pore Confinement Effects, Fluid Types, and Completion Parameters," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-23, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:5:p:2311-:d:1082811
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/5/2311/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/5/2311/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhou, Xiang & Li, Xiuluan & Shen, Dehuang & Shi, Lanxiang & Zhang, Zhien & Sun, Xinge & Jiang, Qi, 2022. "CO2 huff-n-puff process to enhance heavy oil recovery and CO2 storage: An integration study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PB).
    2. Khaled Enab & Hamid Emami-Meybodi, 2021. "Effects of Diffusion, Adsorption, and Hysteresis on Huff-n-Puff Performance in Ultratight Reservoirs with Different Fluid Types and Injection Gases," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-17, November.
    3. Aaditya Khanal & Md Fahim Shahriar, 2022. "Physics-Based Proxy Modeling of CO 2 Sequestration in Deep Saline Aquifers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-23, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhengdong Lei & Yishan Liu & Rui Wang & Lei Li & Yuqi Liu & Yuanqing Zhang, 2022. "A Microfluidic Experiment on CO 2 Injection for Enhanced Oil Recovery in a Shale Oil Reservoir with High Temperature and Pressure," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Liu, Huang & Yao, Desong & Yang, Bowen & Li, Huashi & Guo, Ping & Du, Jianfen & Wang, Jian & Yang, Shuokong & Wen, Lianhui, 2022. "Experimental investigation on the mechanism of low permeability natural gas extraction accompanied by carbon dioxide sequestration," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    3. Zhenhua Xu & Lianwu Zhou & Shuiping Ma & Jianxun Qin & Xiaodi Huang & Bo Han & Longqing Yang & Yun Luo & Pengcheng Liu, 2023. "Study on CO 2 Huff-n-Puff Development Rule of Horizontal Wells in Heavy Oil Reservoir by Taking Liuguanzhuang Oilfield in Dagang as an Example," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-13, May.
    4. Guo, Yaohao & Liu, Fen & Qiu, Junjie & Xu, Zhi & Bao, Bo, 2022. "Microscopic transport and phase behaviors of CO2 injection in heterogeneous formations using microfluidics," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    5. Qureshi, M Fahed & Khandelwal, Himanshu & Usadi, Adam & Barckholtz, Timothy A. & Mhadeshwar, Ashish B. & Linga, Praveen, 2022. "CO2 hydrate stability in oceanic sediments under brine conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    6. Lin, Zeyu & Lu, Xinqian & Wang, Xiaoyan & Chang, Yuanhao & Kang, Kai & Zeng, Fanhua, 2024. "Effect of N2 impurity on CO2-based cyclic solvent injection process in enhancing heavy oil recovery and CO2 storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    7. Li, Zongfa & Liu, Jiahui & Su, Yuliang & Fan, Liyao & Hao, Yongmao & kanjibayi, Bahedawulieti & Huang, Lijuan & Ren, Shaoran & Sun, Yongquan & Liu, Ran, 2023. "Influences of diffusion and advection on dynamic oil-CO2 mixing during CO2 EOR and storage process: Experimental study and numerical modeling at pore-scales," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    8. Kasala, Erasto E. & Wang, Jinjie & Lwazi, Hussein M. & Nyakilla, Edwin E. & Kibonye, John S., 2024. "The influence of hydraulic fracture and reservoir parameters on the storage of CO2 and enhancing CH4 recovery in Yanchang formation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 296(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:5:p:2311-:d:1082811. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.