Comprehensive Experimental Testing and Modeling of the Effect of Acoustic Waves on the Improvement of Oil Recovery in Qatarâ s Oil Reservoirs Grant uri icon

abstract

  • Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) is defined as the process of additional oil recovery by introducing resources not commonly present in reservoirs. Applying EOR technique requires knowledge of all the physics, chemistry, engineering, and geology involved throughout the process. Operators usually apply gas injection, chemical injection, and thermal techniques; all of which are examples of EOR. The improved oil recovery is defined as enhanced oil recovery and several other technologies with the ultimate objective of improving ultimate recovery. Although many research projects and field applications are performed to enhance oil recovery around the globe, it is often uneconomical for smaller fields and is unsuccessful in highly heterogeneous reservoirs due to the presence of high permeability streams and flow barriers. For more than 70 years, several instances have shown increase in oil production in oil fields undergoing earthquakes and similar seismic activity. This phenomenon has postulated scientific attention towards seismic stimulation of reservoirs as a potential method for improved oil recovery. Seismic stimulation for improved oil recovery targets the enhancement of oil production by directing a seismic wave to release immobile spots of oil throughout the reservoir. Some analytical and numerical descriptions have been developed, but there is still a limitation in experimental results. The phenomenon of coupling seismic vibration to multiphase fluid flow performance in porous conditions is still inadequately known. Unlike other fluid-based EOR technologies, the presence of fault blockages, stratification, and phase variation does not reduce the coverage of seismic stimulation. The method is distinctive compared with other EOR methods since the generated elastic wave has no limitation, either in the horizontal or vertical plane. A reservoir containing several pay zones or many faults can be stimulated using seismic stimulation. So far, seismic stimulation has only been operated in combination with waterfloods. However, once we thoroughly understand the physical mechanism of this method, it appears to be possible that it would work to improve the production of oil at any phase of recovery...........

date/time interval

  • 2019 - 2022