enhanced oil recovery using coupled electromagnetics and flow modelling introduction enhanced oil...

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Enhanced Oil Recovery using Coupled Electromagnetics and Flow Modelling INTRODUCTION Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) is a process in which gas or fluid is injected into a reservoir in order to push oil into a production well. A sketch of this process is shown below. There are several aspects for such a process. One of the most important issues is the ability to control the flow and direct it into the direction that would lead to the recovery of crude oil. In principle, the flow of water/gas/oil can be modeled using variety of techniques and therefore, the flow can be predicted. However, in practice, the flow equations contain parameters that are unknown and therefore, prediction is difficult and in many cases, highly inaccurate. Enhanced Oil Recovery: Water and CO 2 are flooded through an injection well. The CO 2 mobilizes additional oil that can be recovered at a production well. Figure from the Kansas Geological Survey. E. Haber, UBC ([email protected]) E. Holtham Computational Geosciences Inc ([email protected]) FLOW and ELECTROMAGNETICS EM MODELLING Layered conductive model with a thin resistive reservoir. Grounded electrodes, one end down the bore- hole and the other end grounded 2km away Transmitter position moved in 7.5 m increments along the bore-hole Current injection below the reservoir, inside the reservoir, and above the reservoir. Synthetic data at four different time steps of the injection process were modeled. Data inverted in 3D Time lapse images of the injection using the flow simulation software FLOW Modelling Modeling the flow can be done by using the pressure- saturation equations. This is a highly coupled systems of PDE's. Here, we consider the formulation suggested by Friis and S. Evje (2012). Discretize the equations in space first using a cell- centered controlled volume Integrate in time using Implicit Pressure Explicit Saturation (IMPES) algorithm First solve the pressure equation to compute velocity Integrate the hyperbolic equation for the saturation REFERENCES R. Amestoy, I.S. Du, J.-Y. L'Excellent, and J. Koster. A fully asynchronous multifrontal solver using distributed dynamic scheduling. simax, 23:15-41,2001. H.A. Friis and S. Evje. Numerical treatment of two-phase flow in capillary heterogeneous porous media by finite volume approximations. Int. J. Num. Anal. Mod, 9:505-36, 2012. E. Haber and S. Heldmann. An octree multigrid method for quasi-static Maxwell's equations with highly discontinuous coefficients. Journal of Computational Physics, 65:324-337, 2007. E. Haber, D. Oldenburg, and R. Shektman. Inversion of time domain 3D electromagnetic data. Geophysical Journal International, 132:1324-1335, 2007. G. R. Hjaltason and H. Samet. Speeding up construction of Quadtrees for spatial indexing. The VLDB Journal, 11:109- 137, 2002. L. Horesh and E. Haber. A second order discretization of Maxwell's equations in the quasi- static regime on Octree grids. SIAM J. Sci. Comput, 33:2805 A2822, 2011. C. Schwarzbach and E. Haber. Finite element based inversion for time-harmonic electromagnetic problems. submitted, 2011. K.S. Yee. Numerical solution of initial boundary value problems involving Maxwell's equations in isotropic media. IEEE Trans. on antennas and propagation, 14:302-307, 1966. To alleviate this problem and to better control the flow, imaging can be used. In particular, remote time lapse monitoring of reservoirs can provide valuable information to meet production goals. Remote monitoring requires technology that can detect movement and changes in the reservoir during production and flooding events. Flooding events can be modeled and monitored. Here we present a methodology combining flow simulation software and electromagnetic data that can yield accurate control of the flow. First the injection event is simulated to predict the fluid flow. This information is then used as a constraint when inverting the collected geophysical data. The combination of flow simulation and electromagnetic data inversion provides an enhanced monitoring technique for reservoir characterization. CONCLUSIONS Simulations of a flooding event were modeled using geologic and hydraulic parameters of an oil field. The flow simulations demonstrate the capability to accurately predict the movement of CO 2 in the reservoir given a good estimate of the hydrological parameters of a reservoir. To enhance the EM inversion results, the outputs of the flow simulation software were used as constraints for the electromagnetic inversions. Once the constraint model was constructed, the data were inverted in 3D. The changes in the inverted conductivity models image the injection event over time. Given a sufficient conductivity difference between the different CO 2 injection time steps, along with an appropriate survey geometry, the modeling results demonstrate that EM methods are feasible for monitoring oil recovery processes. Inverted conductivity models at different time steps Injection Event Flow modelling as initial prediction of fluid movement EM survey design and data collection 3D EM inversion incorporatin g flow constraints Improved understandi ng of fluid and oil movement Update next injection events to improve recovery porosity hydraulic conductivity capillary pressure mobility functions initial conditions1 Initi al 1 km 500 m 5 days 15 days 10 days

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Page 1: Enhanced Oil Recovery using Coupled Electromagnetics and Flow Modelling INTRODUCTION Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) is a process in which gas or fluid is

Enhanced Oil Recovery using Coupled Electromagnetics and Flow Modelling

INTRODUCTION

Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) is a process in which gas or fluid is injected into a reservoir in order to push oil into a production well. A sketch of this process is shown below. There are several aspects for such a process. One of the most important issues is the ability to control the flow and direct it into the direction that would lead to the recovery of crude oil.

In principle, the flow of water/gas/oil can be modeled using variety of techniques and therefore, the flow can be predicted. However, in practice, the flow equations contain parameters that are unknown and therefore, prediction is difficult and in many cases, highly inaccurate.

Enhanced Oil Recovery: Water and CO2 are flooded through an injection well. The CO2 mobilizes additional oil that can be recovered at a production well. Figure from the Kansas Geological Survey.

E. Haber, UBC ([email protected])E. Holtham Computational Geosciences Inc ([email protected])

FLOW and ELECTROMAGNETICS EM MODELLING

• Layered conductive model with a thin resistive reservoir. • Grounded electrodes, one end down the bore-hole and the other

end grounded 2km away• Transmitter position moved in 7.5 m increments along the bore-hole• Current injection below the reservoir, inside the reservoir, and

above the reservoir. • Synthetic data at four different time steps of the injection process

were modeled. • Data inverted in 3D

Time lapse images of the injection using the flow simulation software

FLOW Modelling

Modeling the flow can be done by using the pressure-saturation equations. This is a highly coupled systems of PDE's. Here, we consider the formulation suggested by Friis and S. Evje (2012). • Discretize the equations in space first using a cell-centered controlled volume • Integrate in time using Implicit Pressure Explicit Saturation (IMPES) algorithm• First solve the pressure equation to compute velocity• Integrate the hyperbolic equation for the saturation using an implicit upwind

method• Yields an effective flow simulator that can be used for electromagnetic inversion

REFERENCES

R. Amestoy, I.S. Du, J.-Y. L'Excellent, and J. Koster. A fully asynchronous multifrontal solver using distributed dynamic scheduling. simax, 23:15-41,2001.H.A. Friis and S. Evje. Numerical treatment of two-phase flow in capillary heterogeneous porous media by finite volume approximations. Int. J. Num. Anal. Mod, 9:505-36, 2012.E. Haber and S. Heldmann. An octree multigrid method for quasi-static Maxwell's equations with highly discontinuous coefficients. Journal of Computational Physics, 65:324-337, 2007.E. Haber, D. Oldenburg, and R. Shektman. Inversion of time domain 3D electromagnetic data. Geophysical Journal International, 132:1324-1335, 2007.G. R. Hjaltason and H. Samet. Speeding up construction of Quadtrees for spatial indexing. The VLDB Journal, 11:109- 137, 2002.L. Horesh and E. Haber. A second order discretization of Maxwell's equations in the quasi-static regime on Octree grids. SIAM J. Sci. Comput, 33:2805 A2822, 2011.C. Schwarzbach and E. Haber. Finite element based inversion for time-harmonic electromagnetic problems. submitted, 2011.K.S. Yee. Numerical solution of initial boundary value problems involving Maxwell's equations in isotropic media. IEEE Trans. on antennas and propagation, 14:302-307, 1966.

To alleviate this problem and to better control the flow, imaging can be used. In particular, remote time lapse monitoring of reservoirs can provide valuable information to meet production goals. Remote monitoring requires technology that can detect movement and changes in the reservoir during production and flooding events. Flooding events can be modeled and monitored. Here we present a methodology combining flow simulation software and electromagnetic data that can yield accurate control of the flow. First the injection event is simulated to predict the fluid flow. This information is then used as a constraint when inverting the collected geophysical data. The combination of flow simulation and electromagnetic data inversion provides an enhanced monitoring technique for reservoir characterization.

CONCLUSIONS

Simulations of a flooding event were modeled using geologic and hydraulic parameters of an oil field. The flow simulations demonstrate the capability to accurately predict the movement of CO2 in the reservoir given a good estimate of the hydrological parameters of a reservoir. To enhance the EM inversion results, the outputs of the flow simulation software were used as constraints for the electromagnetic inversions. Once the constraint model was constructed, the data were inverted in 3D. The changes in the inverted conductivity models image the injection event over time. Given a sufficient conductivity difference between the different CO2 injection time steps, along with an appropriate survey geometry, the modeling results demonstrate that EM methods are feasible for monitoring oil recovery processes.

Inverted conductivity models at different time steps

Injection Event

Flow modelling as initial

prediction of fluid movement

EM survey design and data collection

3D EM inversion incorporating flow

constraints

Improved understanding of

fluid and oil movement

Update next injection events

to improve recovery

porosityhydraulic conductivitycapillary pressuremobility functionsinitial conditions1

Initial1 km

500

m

5 days

15 days10 days