Advances in Unconventional Reservoir Development and CO₂ Storage

Dear Colleagues,

As global energy consumption continues to rise rapidly, the development of unconventional reservoirs is becoming increasingly important in petroleum engineering. To mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and combat global warming and climate change, significant efforts are being directed towards CO₂ storage.

Despite recent advancements and techniques, unresolved challenges persist in the development of unconventional reservoirs and CO₂ storage. Hydraulic fracturing is widely used to create fractures that enhance oil recovery and facilitate CO₂ distribution. The characterization and conductivity of these fractures and fracture networks are crucial for both unconventional reservoir development and CO₂ spread. While large volumes of fracturing fluid are injected into reservoirs, only a fraction is recovered; the remainder can impact oil recovery and CO₂ distribution. The complex phase behaviors that vary with spatial and vertical heterogeneity further influence these processes. Additionally, the mechanisms governing fluid flow within reservoirs remain unclear due to the intricate microstructures involved, complicating efforts in unconventional reservoir development and CO₂ storage.

This Special Issue aims to showcase recent advances in unconventional reservoir development and CO₂ storage. We welcome both research and review articles and invite prospective authors to submit high-quality original works that explore innovative approaches to promoting unconventional reservoir development and CO₂ storage, particularly those that integrate geological and engineering theories and methodologies.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to the following:

• Geochemical and geophysical characterization of unconventional reservoirs;
• Innovative technologies for unconventional reservoirs development;
• Numerical or experimental methods of multiphase flow in unconventional reservoirs;
• Techno-economic analysis of unconventional resources;
• CO₂ storage and enhanced oil recovery in conventional and unconventional oil reservoir;
• CO₂ storage in deep saline aquifers and techno-economic analysis;
• Advances in subsurface flow simulation.

Dr. Xiukun Wang
Dr. Junrong Liu
Guest Editors

Dr. Kerui Liu
Guest Editor Assistant

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. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2400 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.

• unconventional reservoir
• CO₂ storage
• hydraulic fracturing
• enhanced oil recovery
• CO₂ -EOR
• fluid–rock interaction
• multiphase flow mechanism