Study on the Plugging Limit and Combination of CO2 Displacement Flow Control System Based on Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)

Abstract

CO2 displacement is an important technology to reduce emissions and improve crude oil recovery, as well as prevent CO2 escape. Effective storage is key to the successful implementation of this technology, especially for medium and high permeability reservoirs. The current flow control systems that are applied to seal gas escape are mainly gas/water alternation, CO2 foam, and CO2 foam gel, but there is no clear understanding of the plugging limits of various flow control systems and the mechanism of their combined use of residual oil. Therefore, in this paper, a series of core replacement experiments are conducted for different flow control systems and their combinations. The quantitative characterization of the core pore size distribution before and after the replacement is carried out using the NMR technique to try and determine the plugging limits of different plugging systems, and to investigate the residual oil utilization patterns of self-designed flow control system combinations and common flow control system combinations under two reservoir conditions with and without large pores. The results show that the plugging limits of water/gas alternation, CO2 foam, and CO2 foam gel systems are 0.86–21.35 μm, 0.07–28.23 μm, and 7–100 μm, respectively, as inferred from the T2 (lateral relaxation time) distribution and pore size distribution. When different combinations of flow control systems are used for repelling, for reservoirs without large pore channels, the combination of flow control systems using higher strength CO2 foam first can effectively improve the degree of crude oil mobilization in small pore throats, compared to using gas/water alternation directly. For reservoirs containing large pore channels, using high-strength CO2 foam gel first to seal the large pore channels increases the degree of utilization of the large pore channels; using water/gas alternation first causes damage to the middle pore channels; High-strength CO2 foam gel seals the large pore channels when the plugging strength is not enough; and using water/gas alternation can effectively improve the degree of utilization of small and medium pore channels. The results of this paper can provide theoretical guidance for the multi-stage flow control of CO2 displacement in the field.