Technology Focus: EOR Modeling (January 2022)

Abstract

No one will be surprised to learn of the reduction in the produced literature on enhanced oil recovery (EOR) this past year measured in terms of papers produced through various SPE forums. The constraints created by the COVID-19 pandemic have been unprecedented. More encouraging and noteworthy is the fact that, even in such hard times, the wheels of knowledge have kept turning. Statistics are important in knowing where the sharp minds of SPE members are investing their energies. Typically, this is also in proportion to what those members need. Hence, it is noteworthy that more than a fifth of the papers were about CO2-based EOR, indicating not only renewed interest but also the motivation for carbon capture, use, and storage. You will find CO2-based EOR represented in the recommended-reading papers by a paper that describes use of simple techniques to predict fieldwide behavior using the Pulser method. What’s more, old is new again. In an enhanced shale gas recovery technique, as summarized in this issue, you will recognize repurposing of a much-discussed coalbed-methane method from a couple of decades ago. CO2-EOR literature is closely followed by continued momentum in the area of data science (DS) and machine learning but with a perceptible degree of maturity in the types of application. As opposed to the “everything goes in the Wild West” approach of a couple of years ago, more and more researchers are realizing that a practical application of DS must respect the underlying fundamentals. No wonder, then, that we are seeing a gradual return of physics, though now strengthened with the power of DS. A good examples of this is found in a paper summarized here that presents data-driven approaches for waterfloods. The other two inclusions presented in this feature combine learnings from other areas to extend and strengthen the frontiers of EOR modeling—namely, a coupled geomechanical and wellbore model, and an elegant manner of simulating phase appearance/disappearance in thermal simulations in the recommended-reading papers. I hope this brief primer will not only bring you up to date with the trends in the EOR literature but also equip you with a good sense of emerging tools and their applications. Recommended additional reading at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org. SPE 200390 - Pulser Model: Updated Framework and Lessons Learned From Applications in Forecasting CO2 Flood Performance by Deepanshu Kumar, Occidental Petroleum, et al. SPE 203912 - Development of a Thermal Stability Method for Phase Appearance and Disappearance Handling in Thermal Compositional Simulators by Mohammad Reza Heidari, Schlumberger, et al.