An evaluation on mechanisms of miscibility development in acid gas injection for volatile oil reservoirs

International audienceProduced gas containing the acid gas reinjection is one of the effective enhanced oil recovery methods, not only saving costs of disposing acid gases and zero discharge of greenhouse gases but also supporting reservoir pressure. The subsurface fluid from the Carboniferous carbonate reservoir in the southern margin of the Pre-Caspian basin in Central Asia has low density, low viscosity, high concentrations of H2S (15%) and CO2 (4%), high solution gas/oil ratio. The reservoir is lack of fresh water because of being far away onshore. Pilot test has already been implemented for the acid gas reinjection. Firstly, in our work a scheme of crude oil composition grouping with 15 compositions was presented on the basis of bottomhole sampling from DSTs of four wells. After matching PVT physical experiments including viscosity, density and gas/oil ratio and pressure–temperature (P–T) phase diagram by tuning critical properties of highly uncertain heavy components, the compositional model with phase behavior was built under meeting accuracy of phase fitting, which was used to evaluate mechanism of miscibility development in the acid gas injection process. Then using a cell-to-cell simulation method, vaporizing and/or condensing gas drive mechanisms were investigated for mixtures consisting of various proportions of CH4, CO2 and H2S in the gas injection process. Moreover, effects of gas compositions on miscible mechanisms have also been determined. With the aid of pressure-composition diagrams and pseudoternary diagrams generated from the Equation of State (EoS), pressures of First Contact Miscibility (FCM) and Multiple Contact Miscibility (MCM) for various gases mixing with the reservoir oil sample under reservoir temperature were calculated. Simulation results show that pressures of FCM are higher than those of MCM, and CO2 and H2S are able to reduce the miscible pressure. At the same time, H2S is stronger. As the CH4 content increases, both pressures of FCM and MCM are higher. But incremental values of MCM decrease. In addition, calculated envelopes of pseudoternary diagrams for mixtures of CH4, CO2 and H2S gases of varying composition with acid gas injection have features of bell shape, hourglass shape and triangle shape, which can be used to identify vaporizing and/or condensing gas drives. Finally, comparison of the real produced gas and the one deprived of its C3+ was performed to determine types of miscibility and calculate pressures of FCM and MCM. This study provides a theoretical guideline for selection of injection gas to improve miscibility and oil recovery

Analysis of Flow Behavior for Acid Fracturing Wells in Fractured-Vuggy Carbonate Reservoirs

This study develops a mathematical model for transient flow analysis of acid fracturing wells in fractured-vuggy carbonate reservoirs. This model considers a composite system with the inner region containing finite number of artificial fractures and wormholes and the outer region showing a triple-porosity medium. Both analytical and numerical solutions are derived in this work, and the comparison between two solutions verifies the model accurately. Flow behavior is analyzed thoroughly by examining the standard log-log type curves. Flow in this composite system can be divided into six or eight main flow regimes comprehensively. Three or two characteristic V-shaped segments can be observed on pressure derivative curves. Each V-shaped segment corresponds to a specific flow regime. One or two of the V-shaped segments may be absent in particular cases. Effects of interregional diffusivity ratio and interregional conductivity ratio on transient responses are strong in the early-flow period. The shape and position of type curves are also influenced by interporosity coefficients, storativity ratios, and reservoir radius significantly. Finally, we show the differences between our model and the similar model with single fracture or without acid fracturing and further investigate the pseudo-skin factor caused by acid fracturing

Live applications of norbormide-based fluorescent probes in Drosophila melanogaster

In this study we investigated the performance of two norbormide (NRB)-derived fluorescent probes, NRBMC009 (green) and NRBZLW0047 (red), on dissected, living larvae of Drosophila, to verify their potential application in confocal microscopy imaging in vivo. To this end, larval tissues were exposed to NRB probes alone or in combination with other commercial dyes or GFP-tagged protein markers. Both probes were rapidly internalized by most tissues (except the central nervous system) allowing each organ in the microscope field to be readily distinguished at low magnification. At the cellular level, the probes showed a very similar distribution (except for fat bodies), defined by loss of signal in the nucleus and plasma membrane, and a preferential localization to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mitochondria. They also recognized ER and mitochondrial phenotypes in the skeletal muscles of fruit fly models that had loss of function mutations in the atlastin and mitofusin genes, suggesting NRBMC009 and NRBZLW0047 as potentially useful in vivo screening tools for characterizing ER and mitochondria morphological alterations. Feeding of larvae and adult Drosophilae with the NRB-derived dyes led to staining of the gut and its epithelial cells, revealing a potential role in food intake assays. In addition, when flies were exposed to either dye over their entire life cycle no apparent functional or morphological abnormalities were detected. Rapid internalization, a bright signal, a compatibility with other available fluorescent probes and GFP-tagged protein markers, and a lack of toxicity make NRBZLW0047 and, particularly, NRBMC009 one of the most highly performing fluorescent probes available for in vivo microscopy studies and food intake assay in Drosophila

Assessing CDOs under alternative copulas

Synthetic collateralized debt obligations are popular vehicles for trading portfolios of credit risks. We present a copula based Monte Carlo simulation procedure for pricing them. Using the Gaussian copula of joint default times, we assess the risks of CDOs and their sensitivity to model parameters. Joint defaults are rare; many studies suggest Gaussian copula has limited ability to capture extreme events. We use the copula to assess the risks of misspecifying tail dependence. The choice of copula is shown to significantly affect tranche prices

Development characteristics, models and strategies for overseas oil and gas fields

Based on about 20 years of accumulated experience and knowledge of oil and gas field development in overseas countries and regions for China's oil companies, the development features, ideas, models and plan designing strategies of overseas oil and gas fields were comprehensively summarized. Overseas oil and gas field development has ten major features, such as non-identity project resource, diversity of contract type, complexity of cooperation model, and so on. The overseas oil and gas field development aims at the maximization of production and benefit during the limited contract period, so the overseas oil and gas field development models are established as giving priority to production by natural energy, building large-scale production capacity, putting into production as soon as possible, realizing high oil production recovery rate, and achieving rapid payback period of investment. According to the overseas contract mode, a set of strategies for overseas oil and gas field development plans were made. For tax systems contracts, the strategy is to adopt the mode of “first fat and then thinner, easier in the first and then harder”, that is, early investment pace, production increase rate, development workload and production were decided by the change of tax stipulated in the contract. For production share contracts, the strategy is to give priority to high production with a few wells at a high production recovery rate to increase the cost-oil and shorten the period of payback. For technical service contracts, the strategy is that the optimal production target and workload of the project were determined by the return on investment, so as to ensure that the peak production and stable production periods meet the contract requirements. Key words: overseas oil and gas field, development ideas, technical strategy, development model, contract type, development plan desig

Calculation model for on-way parameters of horizontal wellbore in the superheated steam injection

Due to superheated steam as a pure gas, the ordinary steam model for the calculation of horizontal well-bore parameters based on two phases flow theory isn't applicable to the superheated steam injection process. According to the conservation of mass, conservation of momentum and conservation of energy, a calculation model for on-way parameters of horizontal well-bore in the superheated steam injection considering the steam phase changing is set up. The on-way parameters of temperature, pressure and dryness of a horizontal well injected superheated steam from Kazakhstan Kumsai oilfield is calculated using the model, and the calculation result of the new model is in good agreement with that of the field data, which verifies the effectiveness of the model. Sensitivity analysis indicates that the length to the heel of horizontal well undergoing the steam phase state changing increases as the injection rate or the degree of superheat increases, but the increase extent is not significant when the injection rate is larger than 8 t/h or the degree of superheat is larger than 80 °C. In the permeability distribution pattern that the permeability increases along the horizontal well-bore, steam temperature is decreased at the lowest rate and the length to the heel of horizontal well undergoing the steam phase changing is the longest. Key words: heavy oil, horizontal well, superheated steam, steam phase changing, on-way parameters, calculation model, steam injection rat

An evaluation on phase behaviors of gas condensate reservoir in cyclic gas injection

Maintaining the reservoir pressure by gas injection is frequently adopted in the development of gas condensate reservoir. The aim of this work is to investigate the phase behavior of condensate oil and remaining condensate gas in the formation under gas injection. The DZT gas condensate reservoir in East China is taken as an example. The multiple contact calculation based on cell-to-cell method and phase equilibrium calculations based on PR Equation of State (EOS) were utilized to evaluate the displacement mechanism and phase behavior change. The research results show that different pure gas has different miscible mechanism in the displacement of condensate oil: vaporizing gas drive for N2 and CH4; condensing gas drive for CO2 and C2H6. Meanwhile, there is a vaporing gas drive rather than a condensing gas drive for injecting produced gas. When the condensate oil is mixed with 0.44 mole fraction of produced gas, the phase behavior of the petroleum mixture reverses, and the condensate oil is converted to condensate gas. About the reinjection of produced gas, the enrichment ability of hydrocarbons is better than that of no-hydrocarbons. After injecting produced gas, retrograde condensation is more difficult to occur, and the remaining condensate gas develops toward dry gas

Underwater distributed channel sandstone reservoir characterization in Kumkol South Oilfield, South Turgai Basin

819-825Under the guidance of modern river distribution pattern, the architecture characteristics and sedimentation mechanism of distributed channelis studied with the core, log and seismic data. Based on the research mentioned above, with the increasing of A/S, the shape of composite distribution channel sand body is varied as sheet belt and wide belt and narrow belt and band-like belt.There are three types of single distributed channel, including the high sinuous distributed channel and the low sinuous distributed channel and the straight distributed channel. As the accommodation increasing and the sediments supply decreasing, the distributed pattern of the single distributed channel changes from the high sinuous distributed channel to the low sinuous distributed channel and the straight distributed channel. There are three types of mudstone interlayer in the single distributed channel. The continuous mudstone interlayer has high GR of SP value and is mainly developed in the straight distributed channel and its size is relatively large. The complex mudstone interlayer has medium GR of SP value and is mainly developed in the low sinuous distributed channel and its size is medium. The discontinuous mudstone interlayer has low GR of SP value and is mainly developed in the high sinuous distributed channel and its size is relatively small

A New Mathematical Model For Heat Radius of Cyclic Superheated Steam Stimulation with Horizontal Wellbore

When superheated steam flows along the horizontal wellbore, it may change to saturated steam at some point of the wellbore. In this paper, to accurately predict the heat radius of cyclic superheated steam stimulation with horizontal wellbore, the distribution of thermophysical properties of superheated steam along the horizontal wellbore is considered. The heating process is divided into 4 stages for superheated steam and 3 stages for saturated steam when the phase change undergoes in the wellbore. On this basis, the mathematical model for heat radius of cyclic superheated steam stimulation with horizontal wellbore was established according to energy conservation principle and Laplace transformation method. The calculation result of the new mathematical model is in good agreement with that of the numerical simulation (CMG STARS) for the same parameters from a specific heavy oil reservoir, which verified the correctness of the new mathematical model. The effect of degree of superheat and the cycle of stimulation are analyzed in detail after the new mathematical model is validated. The results show that the heat radius of superheated zone, steam zone, and hot fluid zone all decrease with horizontal well length and increase with the cycle of stimulation. The higher the degree of superheat is, the farther from the heel of the horizontal wellbore the phase change undergoes. Besides, the radius of superheated zone, steam zone, and hot fluid zone increases with the degree of superheat, but the value increases little at steam zone and hot fluid zone