Simulation of waterflooding, carbon dioxide flooding and water-alternating-carbon dioxide in heavy oil reservoir: comparative evaluation

Abstract

A statistical review of world energy sources has demonstrated that the global oil production is not enough for current global oil consumption. Accordingly, this problem leads to the consideration of unconventional energy resources, especially heavy oil. This research investigated the efficiency and comparative evaluation of three oil recovery processes based on previous experiments and simulations. In previous experiment, two types of heavy oil with different viscosities were performed in the two sand pack permeabilities at the injection pressure of 345 kPa and 25 ºC. In this study, simulation models were built by using IMEX CMG. A hybrid grid system was used and grid refinement was applied to model the radial flow, which is parallel to a horizontal well. Homogeneous porosity and permeability were assumed for all directions. The simulation indicated that the waterflooding method could produce the highest recovery factor for both types of oil and permeabilities. Oil viscosity had more impact on oil recovery than the absolute permeability. Simulation outcomes were in good agreement with the experimental results.