Open Access

ARTICLE

Optimization of the Plugging Agent Dosage for High Temperature Salt Profile Control in Heavy Oil Reservoirs

by Jiayu Ruan¹, Mingjing Lu^2,3, Wei Zhang⁴, Yuxi Zhang¹, Yuhui Zhou^1,*, Jie Gong¹, Fan Wang¹, Yuanxiao Guan¹

1 School of Petroleum Engineering, Yangtze University, Wuhan, 430000, China
2 Petroleum Engineering Technology Research Institute of Shengli Oilfield, SINOPEC, Dongying, 257067, China
3 Postdoctoral Scientific Research Working Station of Shengli Oilfield, SINOPEC, Dongying, 257067, China
4 Petro China Changqing Oilfield Branch No. 1 Gas Production Plant, Yan’an, 716000, China

* Corresponding Author: Yuhui Zhou. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Meshless, Mesh-Based and Mesh-Reduction Methods Based Analysis of Fluid Flow in Porous Media)

Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2023, 19(2), 421-436. https://doi.org/10.32604/fdmp.2022.020665

Received 06 December 2021; Accepted 25 February 2022; Issue published 29 August 2022

Abstract

After steam discharge in heavy oil reservoirs, the distribution of temperature, pressure, and permeability in different wells becomes irregular. Flow channels can easily be produced, which affect the sweep efficiency of the oil displacement. Previous studies have shown that the salting-out plugging method can effectively block these channels in high-temperature reservoirs, improve the suction profile, and increase oil production. In the present study, the optimal dosage of the plugging agent is determined taking into account connection transmissibility and inter-well volumes. Together with the connectivity model, a water flooding simulation model is introduced. Moreover, a non-gradient stochastic disturbance algorithm is used to obtain the optimal plugging agent dosage, which provides the basis for the high-temperature salting-out plugging agent adjustment in the field.

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Keywords

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