Development of a Multi-Continuum Multi-Component Model for Enhanced Gas Recovery and CO2 Storage in Fractured Shale Gas Reservoirs

Abstract

Abstract Shale gas reservoirs have been proposed as feasible choices of location for injection of CO2 and/or N2 because this method could enhance recovery of natural gas resources, while at the same time sequester CO2 underground. In this paper, a fully coupled multi-continuum multi-component simulator which incorporates several transport/storage mechanisms is developed. To accurately capture physics behind the transport process in shale nanopores, Kundsen diffusion and gas slippage are included in the flow model. An extended Langmuir isotherm is used to describe the adsorption/desorption behavior of different gas components and the displacement process of methane as free gas. Pressure-dependent permeability (due to rock deformation) of natural fractures induced by hydraulic fracturing is also considered in the simulator. In addition, modeling of complex fracture networks is very crucial for simulating production of shale gas reservoirs because there exists various scales of fractures with multiple orientations after the fracturing treatment for horizontal well. In this work, a hierarchical approach which integrates EDFM with dual-continuum concept is adopted. The hybrid model includes three domains: matrix, major hydraulic fractures and large-scale natural fractures (described by EDFM), and micro-fractures in SRV region which are modeled by dual-continuum approach. Embedded Discrete Fractures Model (EDFM) is an efficient approach for explicitly simulating large-scale fractures in Cartesian grid instead of complicated unstructured grid. Moreover, a nested-grid refinement method is used to capture the fluids transfer from matrix to fractures. Fully implicit scheme is applied for discretizing fluid equations, and the corresponding Jacobian matrix is evaluated by Automatic Differentiation with Expression Templates Library (ADETL). The AD-Library framework allows wide flexibility in the choice of variable sets and provides generic representations of discretized expressions for gridblocks. Several simulations and sensitivity analysis are performed with the developed research code for determining the key factors affecting shale gas recovery. Modeling studies indicate that the properties of fracture networks could greatly influence methane production. Different injection strategies including huff-n-puff scenario are also evaluated to provide insights for optimizing production of multi-fractured horizontal well. Results show that CO2/N2 injection can be an effective approach with great application potential for enhancing shale gas recovery.