A Multi-medium and Multi-mechanism model for CO2 injection and storage in fractured shale gas reservoirs

Abstract

Under the background of “dual-carbon”, it is strategically significant to use shale gas reservoirs for CO2 injection and storage. Injection of CO2 into shale formations can improve natural gas recovery and achieve effective storage of CO2. However, due to the complex characteristics of shale reservoirs, like complex fractures and a variety of flow mechanisms, few work has been done to comprehensively consider those complex characteristics for accurate reservoir simulation of CO2 injection and storage. Therefore, to improve this situation, this paper establishes a fully coupled model of the matrix, natural fracture and hydraulic fracture, which considers multiple mechanisms, including adsorption/desorption, diffusion, stress sensitivity of fracture and stimulated reservoir volume (SRV). The embedded discrete fracture model (EDFM) is applied to describe the transfer flow between matrix-fracture, fracture-fracture and fracture-well. The finite volume and quasi-Newton iterative methods are used to solve the model. The model's reliability and practicability are verified by matching the production history of commercial software in shale gas reservoirs. The effects of various factors on the production curve and CO2 storage characteristics are analyzed, including adsorption/desorption, diffusion, stress sensitivity, well production pressure, CO2 injection rate, CO2 injection opportunity and fracture parameters. The results show that the model is reliable and practical and can be used to study the dynamic performances of enhanced shale gas recovery and CO2 storage.