Reservoir simulation model calibration methodology with polymer flooding based on laboratory experiments
Abstract
Due to its high apparent viscosity, polymer is considered as an alternative to water as injection fluid in hydrocarbon reservoirs. The mobility of the water-polymer mixture is much smaller than that of water alone, which helps prevent undesirable viscous fingering. Nevertheless, the selection of a polymer process involves a procedure for assessing the performance of the polymer in terms of mobility reduction. This procedure involves laboratory experiments in which the pressure losses are measured during polymer displacement, as well as during water displacement. In the next step of the procedure, a model is calibrated by simulation in order to predict the efficiency of the polymer. Although the polymer models traditionally used at this stage are relatively simple, their calibration from the results of the laboratory tests is much more intricate, insofar as the mobility reduction generated by the polymer depends not only on the concentration but also on the temperature, the salinity and the shear rate. In this paper, we put forward a new approach to this multivariate problem and propose a rigorous calibration methodology which allows for a fast physical representativity, thus limiting the number of laboratory experiments. This methodology is the subject of a pending patent application (FR 18/58547).
Domains
Earth Sciences
Origin : Files produced by the author(s)
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