Optimization of Improved Oil Recovery through CO2-WAG Injection

• Grant number: 16/08801-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: February 01, 2017 - January 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Mechanical Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Marcio Augusto Sampaio Pinto
• Grantee: Marcio Augusto Sampaio Pinto
• Host Institution: Escola Politécnica (EP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Denis José Schiozer ; Eduardo Gildin

Abstract

Many newly discovered reservoirs in Brazil have a high content of CO2 and the distance from the coast, make impossible the flow through pipelines. These facts, added to environmental causes, opened the possibility of recovery through CO2-WAG injection. However, a methodology that quantifies the advantages of this recovery stopped, in many times, due to complexity of the problem, since the operation of many wells involves a large number of control variables in the optimization process and, added to the high processing time of compositional simulation, increases significantly the time spent on the process, forcing a search for solutions through simplified procedures. To circumvent this problem, this project proposes the development of a methodology to assess quickly and efficiently, increasing the reservoir recovery under CO2-WAG injection, through the combination of decreased computational simulation time with increased efficiency in the optimization process. For this, the proposed method involves developing a compositional simulator of research, in order to integrate the reduced order model and modeling the physical phenomena that are not present in commercial simulators. Then, we propose the use of optimization method called simultaneous perturbation with stochastic approximation (SPSA). Thus, once achieved high speed on the simulation, we can use more complex and efficient optimization methods, and the combination of both, could result in better solutions, generating in this integration the increase of the management of the pre-salt reservoirs. The final result can fill an important gap in the literature and in practical applications, which makes it cannot quickly and clearly assess the real benefits and advantages of CO2-WAG injection. Moreover, this project aims to consolidate the collaboration between USP and two other institutions, internationally renowned in petroleum engineering, UNICAMP and Texas A&M, bringing benefits for the technical merit of this research, and for the students training in optimization methods, mathematical for simulation of CO2 and reduced models. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

SAMPAIO, MARCIO AUGUSTO; DE MELLO, SAMUEL FERREIRA; SCHIOZER, DENIS JOSE. Impact of physical phenomena and cyclical reinjection in miscible CO2-WAG recovery in carbonate reservoirs. JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY, JUN 2020. (16/08801-0)