Abstract
Carbonate-hosted hydrocarbon reservoirs are known to be weakly- to moderately oil-wet, but the pore-scale wettability distribution is poorly understood. Moreover, micropores, which often dominate in carbonate reservoirs, are usually assumed to be water-wet and their role in multi-phase flow is neglected. Modelling the wettability of carbonates using pore network models is challenging, because of our inability to attribute appropriate chemical characteristics to the pore surfaces and over-simplification of the pore shapes. Here, we implement a qualitatively plausible wettability alteration scenario in a two-phase flow network model that captures a diversity of pore shapes. The model qualitatively reproduces patterns of wettability alteration recently observed in microporous carbonates via high-resolution imaging. To assess the combined importance of pore-space structure and wettability on petrophysical properties, we consider a homogeneous Berea sandstone network and a heterogeneous microporous carbonate network, whose disconnected coarse-scale pores are connected through a sub-network of fine-scale pores. Results demonstrate that wettability effects are significantly more profound in the carbonate network, as the wettability state of the micropores controls the oil recovery.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 317–328 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Advances in Water Resources |
Volume | 95 |
Early online date | 3 Jun 2015 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Sep 2016 |
Keywords
- Network modelling
- Two-phase flow
- Wettability alteration
- Oil recovery
- Carbonates
- Microporosity
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Profiles
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Zeyun Jiang
- School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, Institute for GeoEnergy Engineering - Assistant Professor
- School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society - Assistant Professor
Person: Academic (Research & Teaching)
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Marinus Izaak Jan Van Dijke
- School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, Institute for GeoEnergy Engineering - Associate Professor
- School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society - Associate Professor
Person: Academic (Research & Teaching)