Browsing by Subject "Injection"
Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item A simulation study to verify Stone's simultaneous water and gas injection performance in a 5-spot pattern(Texas A&M University, 2008-10-10) Barnawi, Mazen TaherWater alternating gas (WAG) injection is a proven technique to enhance oil recovery. It has been successfully implemented in the field since 1957 with recovery increase in the range of 5-10% of oil-initially-in-place (OIIP). In 2004, Herbert L. Stone presented a simultaneous water and gas injection technique. Gas is injected near the bottom of the reservoir and water is injected directly on top at high rates to prevent upward channeling of the gas. Stone's mathematical model indicated the new technique can increase vertical sweep efficiency by 3-4 folds over WAG. In this study, a commercial reservoir simulator was used to predict the performance of Stone's technique and compare it to WAG and other EOR injection strategies. Two sets of relative permeability data were considered. Multiple combinations of total injection rates (water plus gas) and water/gas ratios as well as injection schedules were investigated to find the optimum design parameters for an 80 acre 5-spot pattern unit. Results show that injecting water above gas may result in better oil recovery than WAG injection though not as indicated by Stone. Increase in oil recovery with SSWAG injection is a function of the gas critical saturation. The more gas is trapped in the formation, the higher oil recovery is obtained. This is probably due to the fact that areal sweep efficiency is a more dominant factor in a 5-spot pattern. Periodic shut-off of the water injector has little effect on oil recovery. Water/gas injection ratio optimization may result in a slight increase in oil recovery. SSWAG injection results in a steady injection pressure and less fluctuation in gas production rate compared to WAG injection.Item Analytical modeling of a fracture-injection/falloff sequence and the development of a refracture-candidate diagnostic test(Texas A&M University, 2006-08-16) Craig, David PaulFracture-injection/falloff sequences are routinely used as pre-frac well tests to estimate reservoir pressure and transmissibility, but the current interpretation methods are limited to analyzing specific and very small portions of the pressure falloff data. To remove the current limitations, new analytical fractureinjection/ falloff models are developed that account for fracture propagation, fracture closure, and after fracture closure diffusion. A fracture-injection/falloff differs from a conventional injection/falloff sequence in that pressure during the injection is sufficient to initiate and propagate a hydraulic fracture. By considering fracture propagation as time-dependent storage, three new models are presented for a fractureinjection/ falloff sequence in a well in an infinite slab reservoir with a single vertical fracture created during the injection and with variable fracture and wellbore storage as follows: ?? Equivalent propagating-fracture and before-fracture-closure storage with constant after-fractureclosure storage. ?? Time-dependent propagating-fracture storage, constant before-closure storage, and constant afterclosure storage. ?? Time-dependent propagating-fracture storage, constant before-closure storage with linear flow from the fracture, and constant wellbore storage and skin with after-closure radial flow. When a fracture-injection can be considered as occurring instantaneously, limiting-case solutions of the new fracture-injection/falloff models suggest the observed pressure difference can be integrated to generate an equivalent pressure difference if the rate were constant. Consequently, a fractureinjection/ falloff sequence can be analyzed with constant-rate, variable-storage type curves. The new fracture-injection/falloff theory is also extended to allow for a fracture-injection in a reservoir containing an existing conductive hydraulic fracture. The new multiple-fracture fracture-injection/falloff model forms the basis of a new refracture-candidate diagnostic test that uses characteristic variable-storage behavior to qualitatively diagnose a pre-existing fracture retaining residual width and to determine if a preexisting fracture is damaged. A quantitative analysis methodology is also proposed that uses a new pressure-transient solution for a well in an infinite-slab reservoir producing through multiple arbitrarilyoriented finite- or infinite-conductivity fractures.Item CFD-based representation of non-Newtonian polymer injectivity for a horizontal well with coupled formation-wellbore hydraulics(2010-12) Jackson, Gregory Thomas, 1983-; Balhoff, Matthew T.; Huh, ChunDuring injection of a high-viscosity, non-Newtonian polymer into a long horizontal well, a significant pressure drop occurs along the well length. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling of the shear-thinning flow of polymer in the wellbore, coupled with the viscoelastic flow in composite gravel-pack/near-well formation zone, was carried out to develop convenient correlations for axial pressure values of both Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids along the well length, for use in chemical EOR simulations. The detailed CFD modeling of the non-Newtonian flow behavior of polymer within the horizontal wellbore, completion zone and the near-well formation, not only allows accurate accounting of pressure distribution along the long horizontal well, but also can be employed for screening diagnosis for possible injectivity inefficiencies resulting from non-uniform pressure values. At both high and low injection rates, CFD modeling predicts non-uniform pressure distributions for highly viscous fluids. The inclusive pressure correlation was implemented into UTCHEM, a University of Texas at Austin research simulator, to determine the importance of including pressure drop in polymer injections. Early times (i.e., less than 100 days) yielded a significant oil recovery deviation from a uniform pressure wellbore. However, at later times the recovery loss generated by the pressure decrease was deemed negligible; therefore, the traditional assumption regarding uniform pressure in horizontal wellbores was still reasonable for highly viscous non-Newtonian flow. This CFD study is the first mechanistic investigation of the polymer injectivity with detailed description of the wellbore, completion zone and near-well formation, and with full accounting of the shear-thinning rheology for pipe flow and the viscoelastic rheology of polymer in porous media. With increased use of very high molecular-weight polymers for chemical EOR processes for mobility control, the latter mechanism is known to be critical.Item Effects of beef enhancement with non-meat ingredients, blade tenderization, and vacuum tumbling on quality attributes of four beef cuts stored in a high oxygen environment(Texas A&M University, 2005-02-17) Williams, Tracey AnnThe objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of non-meat ingredients, blade tenderization and vacuum-tumbling on the textural, visual and sensory characteristics of steaks from Biceps femoris, Supraspinatus, Triceps brachii long head, and Longissimus dorsi muscles packaged in high oxygen, modified atomosphere (MAP) system. United Department of Agriculture (USDA) Select muscles (n=72) from each cut were obtained from a commercial processor over three processing days. Muscles were aged for five days at 4?C. Denuded muscles within a processing day were randomly assigned to one of 24 treatments. This study was a 2 x 4 x 3 factorial arrangement where treatments were control, injection (injected or non-injected), blade tenderization (0, 1, or 2 passes) and vacuum-tumbling (0, 5, 10 or 20 minutes). Injected muscles contained up to 10% of a brine containing 1.55% potassium lactate, 0.1% sodium diacetate, 0.3% sodium tripolyphosphate blend and 0.4% salt in the final product. Muscles were vacuumtumbled and blade tenderized sequentially after injection. Steaks from the muscles were stored in a high oxygen (80% O2, 20% CO2) MAP system for 0, 3, 7, 10 and 14 days at 2?C. Steaks were evaluated for package purge (%), Warner-Bratzler shear force (kg), cook loss (%), cook time (min), pH, CIE L* a* b* color space values and trained color panel scores on each storage day. A trained descriptive attribute sensory panel evaluated steaks on day 1 only. Warner-Bratzler shear force (P<0.01) and trained sensory panel results (P<0.05) showed that the addition of non-meat ingredients improved tenderness in all four muscles. Sensory detectable connective tissue was lower (P<0.01) in injected steaks for all muscles except in Biceps femoris steaks. Injected steaks had higher pH (P<0.01) measurements than non-injected treatments in all muscles except the Triceps brachii long head. Neither blade tenderization nor vacuum-tumbling had consistent effects in all four muscles. Vacuum-tumbled Biceps femoris steaks had lower bitter flavor aromatics (P<0.05). In conclusion, enhancing beef with non-meat ingredients had the greatest impact on the quality attributes of high connective tissue cuts and Longissimus dorsi steaks.Item A new method of data quality control in production data using the capacitance-resistance model(2011-08) Cao, Fei, active 21st century; Lake, Larry W.; Nicot, Jean-PhilippeProduction data are the most abundant data in the field. However, they can often be of poor quality because of undocumented operational problems, or changes in operating conditions, or even recording mistakes (Nobakht et al. 2009). If this poor quality or inconsistency is not recognized as such, it can be misinterpreted as a reservoir issue other than the data quality problem that it is. Thus quality control of production data is a crucial and necessary step that must precede any further interpretation using the production data. To restore production data, we propose to use the capacitance resistance model (CRM) to realize data reconciliation. CRM is a simple reservoir simulation model that characterizes the connectivity between injectors and producers using only production and injection rate data. Because the CRM model is based on the continuity equation, it can be used to analyze the production corresponding to the injection signal in the reservoir. The problematic production data are then put into the CRM model directly and the resulting CRM output parameters are used to evaluate what the correct production response would be under current injection scheme. We also make sensitivity analysis based on synthetic fields, which are heterogeneous ideal reservoir models with imposed geology and well features in Eclipse. The aim is to show how bad data could be misleading and the best way to restore the production data. Using the CRM model itself to control data quality is a novel method to obtain clean production data. We can then apply the new clean production data in reservoir simulators or any other processes where production data quality matters. This data quality control process can help better understand the reservoir, analyze its behavior in a more ensured way and make more reliable decisions.Item Quantifying thermally driven fracture geometry during CO₂ storage(2014-12) Taylor, Jacob Matthew; Bryant, Steven L.The desired lifetime for CO₂ injection for sequestration is several decades at a high injection rate (up to 10 bbl/min or 2,400 tons/day per injector). Government regulations and geomechanical design constraints may impose a limit on the injection rate such that, for example, the bottomhole pressure remains less than 90% of the hydraulic fracture pressure. Despite injecting below the critical fracture pressure, fractures can nevertheless initiate and propagate due to a thermoelastic stress reduction caused by cool CO₂ encountering hot reservoir rock. Here we develop a numerical model to calculate whether mechanical and thermal equilibrium between the injected CO₂ and the reservoir evolves, such that fracture growth ceases. When such a condition exists, the model predicts the corresponding fracture geometry and time to reach that state. The critical pressure for fracture propagation depends on the thermoelastic stress, a function of rock properties and the temperature difference between the injected fluid and the reservoir (ΔT). Fractures will propagate as long as the thermoelastic stress and the fluid pressure at the fracture tip exceed a threshold; we calculate the extent of a fracture such that the tip pressure falls below the thermoelastically modified fracture propagation pressure. Fracture growth is strongly dependent upon the formation permeability, the level of injection pressure above fracture propagation pressure, and ΔT.