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Advanced Enhanced Oil Recovery Techniques for Unconventional Oil Resources

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "H: Geo-Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (26 May 2024) | Viewed by 545

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Energy and Petroleum Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Stavanger, P.O. Box 8600, 4036 Stavanger, Norway
Interests: enhanced oil recovery; reservoir engineering; petroleum economics; geothermal energy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Unconventional oil resources refer to oil produced using techniques other than those used in conventional production. The powerful combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing enables significantly more production from those resources. However, because of the ultra-low permeability and rapid depletion of pore pressure near the hydraulic fractures and wellbore, oil production for most wells declines sharply. It is estimated that the hydrocarbon recovery from these wells is going to be low, typically less than 10%. This Collection is dedicated to the latest research on IOR/EOR for unconventional oil reservoirs, including CO2-EOR, Natural Gas Based EOR, Air injection, Chemical EOR and other cutting-edge EOR techniques that enhance production from shale and tight oil reservoirs. We also welcome submissions on numerical simulations, especially the impact of nanopore confinement and geomechanics coupling on different EOR methods optimization and forecast.

To embrace rapidly evolving solutions and strategies to unconventional reservoir management problems, this timely collection also aims to take a snapshot of current advances in the development of a life-of-field surveillance plan and effective conformance control strategies.

Dr. Abdelazim Abbas
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • unconventional oil resources
  • IOR/EOR techniques
  • shale and tight oil
  • CO2-EOR method
  • conformance control strategies
  • unconventional reservoir management

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 3001 KiB  
Article
Carbon Dioxide Oil Repulsion in the Sandstone Reservoirs of Lunnan Oilfield, Tarim Basin
by Zangyuan Wu, Qihong Feng, Liming Lian, Xiangjuan Meng, Daiyu Zhou, Min Luo and Hanlie Cheng
Energies 2024, 17(14), 3503; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17143503 - 17 Jul 2024
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Abstract
The Lunnan oilfield, nestled within the Tarim Basin, represents a prototypical extra-low-permeability sandstone reservoir, distinguished by high-quality crude oil characterised by a low viscosity, density, and gel content. The effective exploitation of such reservoirs hinges on the implementation of carbon dioxide (CO2 [...] Read more.
The Lunnan oilfield, nestled within the Tarim Basin, represents a prototypical extra-low-permeability sandstone reservoir, distinguished by high-quality crude oil characterised by a low viscosity, density, and gel content. The effective exploitation of such reservoirs hinges on the implementation of carbon dioxide (CO2) flooding techniques. This study, focusing on the sandstone reservoirs of Lunnan, delves into the mechanisms of CO2-assisted oil displacement under diverse operational parameters: injection pressures, CO2 concentration levels, and variations in crude oil properties. It integrates analyses on the high-pressure, high-temperature behaviour of CO2, the dynamics of CO2 injection and expansion, prolonged core flood characteristics, and the governing principles of minimum miscible pressure transitions. The findings reveal a nuanced interplay between variables: CO2’s density and viscosity initially surge with escalating injection pressures before stabilising, whereas they experience a gradual decline with increasing temperature. Enhanced CO2 injection correlates with a heightened expansion coefficient, yet the density increment of degassed crude oil remains marginal. Notably, CO2 viscosity undergoes a substantial reduction under stratigraphic pressures. The sequential application of water alternating gas (WAG) followed by continuous CO2 flooding attains oil recovery efficiency surpassing 90%, emphasising the superiority of uninterrupted CO2 injection over processes lacking profiling. The presence of non-miscible hydrocarbon gases in segmented plug drives impedes the oil displacement efficiency, underscoring the importance of CO2 purity in the displacement medium. Furthermore, a marked trend emerges in crude oil recovery rates as the replacement pressure escalates, exhibiting an initial rapid enhancement succeeded by a gradual rise. Collectively, these insights offer a robust theoretical foundation endorsing the deployment of CO2 flooding strategies for enhancing oil recovery from sandstone reservoirs, thereby contributing valuable data to the advancement of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technologies in challenging, low-permeability environments. Full article
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