Study of the Influence of Dynamic and Static Capillary Forces on Production in Low-Permeability Reservoirs

Abstract

Low-permeability reservoirs have strong heterogeneity, and the production prediction based on traditional seepage model is not accurate enough. The dynamic capillary-force seepage model can characterize the dynamic heterogeneity of seepage and more accurately describe the oil–water flow process. In this paper, the calculation formula of the dynamic capillary force is obtained through a real low-permeability core experiment, and the seepage model of dynamic capillary force is established. Based on the model, the authors quantitatively study the effects of formation pressure, heterogeneity and production speed on dynamic capillary force through numerical solutions. It is found that compared with the traditional static capillary-force seepage model, the dynamic capillary-force seepage model makes the predicted water cut increase and the recovery factor decrease. With the increase in development time, formation pressure and production rate will make the effect of dynamic capillary force more obvious. According to the comparison of heterogeneous reservoir models, results show that the horizontal heterogeneity will strengthen the dynamic capillary-force effect, while the vertical heterogeneity will weaken the dynamic capillary-force effect. In the range of research parameters, the recovery ratio predicted by the dynamic capillary-force seepage model can be reduced by 4.7%. A new oil–water seepage model is proposed, which can characterize the spatial difference and dynamic change of low-permeability reservoirs with time. It is of great significance for describing the remaining oil distribution of low-permeability reservoirs in detail and making decisions on efficient EOR measures.