MAINTAINING GAS RECOVERY IN LOW-PERMEABILITY FORMATIONS

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to ensure efficient gas production in low-permeability and heterogeneous formations by numerically modeling the distribution of reservoir pressure drop around production and injection wells. To investigate this goal, we used a simulation based on the combined finite-element-difference method for nonstationary Leibenson piezoelectric conductivity problems. The method is based on the combination of elements of the already known finite difference and finite element methods for the nonstationary piezoelectric conductivity problem. The study found that there are many factors that affect the process of maintaining gas production in poorly permeable areas of a gas-bearing formation. Among them, first of all, after increasing the permeability of the corresponding section of the reservoir where production is created. Another important factor for maintaining gas recovery is the ability to naturally or artificially maintain gas phase infiltration within the affected reservoir area. This aspect is especially important for ensuring stable gas recovery over a long period of operation. During the intensive and long-term operation of the working area of the gas-bearing formation, additional injection wells were installed in the complex of production wells to avoid its depletion. It is important to note that provided a high level of gas phase penetration at the beginning of field operation, other factors of the production process, such as additional production wells and infiltration within the working area, have a lesser impact on the overall pressure distribution in this area. Thus, the study shows that with the passage of time and prolonged operation of the working section of the reservoir, the influence of its penetration decreases, but the importance of injected substances in the injection wells and gas phase infiltration within this section of the reservoir increases.