Abstract
More and more attention has been paid to the oil and gas flow mechanisms in shale reservoirs. The solid–fluid interaction becomes significant when the pores are in the nanoscale. The interaction changes the fluid’s physical properties and leads to different flow mechanisms in shale reservoirs from those in conventional reservoirs. By using a Simplified Local Density–Peng Robinson transport model, we consider the density and viscosity profiles, which result from solid–fluid interaction. Gas rarefaction effect is negligible at high pressure, so we assume it is viscous flow. Considering the density- and viscosity-changing effects, we proposed a slit permeability model. The velocity profiles are obtained by this newly established model. This proposed model is validated by matching the density profile and velocity profile from molecular dynamic simulation. Then, the effects of pressure and pore size on gas and oil flow mechanisms are also studied in this work. The results show that both gas and oil exhibit enhanced flow rates in nanopores. Gas-phase flow in nanopores is dominated by the density-changing effect (adsorption), while the oil-phase flow is mainly controlled by the viscosity-changing effect. Both gas and oil permeability quickly decrease to the Darcy permeability when the slit aperture becomes large. The results reported in this work are representative and should significantly help us understand the mechanisms of oil and gas flow in shale reservoirs.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Cao, B.Y., Sun, J., Chen, M., Guo, Z.Y.: Molecular momentum transport at fluid–solid interfaces in MEMS/NEMS: a review. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 10(11), 4638–4706 (2009)
Chen, J.H., Wong, D.S.H., Tan, C.S., Subramanian, R., Lira, C.T., Orth, M.: Adsorption and desorption of carbon dioxide onto and from activated carbon at high pressures. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 36(7), 2808–2815 (1997)
Civan, F.: Effective correlation of apparent gas permeability in tight porous media. Transp. Porous Media 82(2), 375–384 (2010)
Didar, B.R., Akkutlu, I.Y.: Pore-size dependence of fluid phase behavior and the impact on shale gas reserves. In: Unconventional Resources Technology Conference (URTEC) (2013). (SPE-168939)
Dong, M., Li, Z., Li, S., Yao, J.: Permeabilities of tight reservoir cores determined for gaseous and liquid CO\(_2\) and C\(_2\)H\(_6\) using minimum backpressure method. J. Nat. Gas Sci. Eng. 5, 1–5 (2012)
Ghanizadeh, A., Amann-Hildenbrand, A., Gasparik, M., Gensterblum, Y., Krooss, B.M., Littke, R.: Experimental study of fluid transport processes in the matrix system of the European organic-rich shales: II. Posidonia Shale (Lower Toarcian, northern Germany). Int. J. Coal Geol. 123, 20–33 (2014)
Haghshenas, B., Clarkson, C.R., Bergerson, J., Chen, S., Pan, Z.: Improvement in permeability models for unconventional gas reservoirs and model selection using statistical analysis. In: SPE/CSUR Unconventional Resources Conference—Canada. Society of Petroleum Engineers (2014). (SPE-171641)
Haghshenas, B., Qanbari, F., Clarkson, C.R., Chen, S.N.: Modeling PVT behavior of gas-condensate system under pore confinement effects: implications for rate-transient analysis of gas-condensate shale plays. In: SPE Low Perm Symposium. Society of Petroleum Engineers (2016). (SPE-180264)
Javadpour, F.: Nanopores and apparent permeability of gas flow in mudrocks (shales and siltstone). J. Can. Pet. Technol. 48(08), 16–21 (2009)
Javadpour, F., McClure, M., Naraghi, M.E.: Slip-corrected liquid permeability and its effect on hydraulic fracturing and fluid loss in shale. Fuel 160, 549–559 (2015)
Jin, Z., Firoozabadi, A.: Thermodynamic modeling of phase behavior in shale media. SPE J. 21(01), 190–207 (2016)
Kazemi, M., Takbiri-Borujeni, A.: Flow of gases in organic nanocapillary pores of shale: a boundary-driven molecular simulation study. In: SPE Western Regional Meeting. Society of Petroleum Engineers (2016). (SPE-180441)
Kou, R., Alafnan, S.F.K., Akkutlu, I.Y.: Coupling of Darcy’s equation with molecular transport and its application to upscaling Kerogen permeability. In: SPE Europec featured at 78th EAGE Conference and Exhibition. Society of Petroleum Engineers, vol. 116, pp. 493–519 (2016). (SPE-180112)
Kou, R., Alafnan, S.F., Akkutlu, I.Y.: Multi-scale analysis of gas transport mechanisms in Kerogen. Transp. Porous Media 1–27 (2016)
Lee, A.L., Gonzalez, M.H., Eakin, B.E.: The viscosity of natural gases. J. Pet. Technol. 18(08), 997–1000 (1966)
Lee, L.L.: Molecular Thermodynamics of Nonideal Fluids. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford (1988)
Li, S., Dong, M., Li, Z.: Measurement and revised interpretation of gas flow behavior in tight reservoir cores. J. Petrol. Sci. Eng. 65(1), 81–88 (2009)
Lohrenz, J., Bray, B.G., Clark, C.R.: Calculating viscosities of reservoir fluids from their compositions. J. Pet. Technol. 16(10), 1171–1176 (1964)
Ma, Y., Jamili, A.: Using simplified local density/Peng–Robinson equation of state to study the effects of confinement in shale formations on phase behavior. In: SPE Unconventional Resources Conference. Society of Petroleum Engineers (2014). (SPE-168986)
Ma, Y., Jamili, A.: Modeling the density profiles and adsorption of pure and mixture hydrocarbons in shales. J. Unconv. Oil Gas Resour. 14, 128–138 (2016)
Majumder, M., Chopra, N., Andrews, R., Hinds, B.J.: Nanoscale hydrodynamics: enhanced flow in carbon nanotubes. Nature 438(7064), 44–44 (2005)
Mathworks, T.: Matlab Optimization Toolbox User’s Guide. MathWorks, Inc. http://www.mathworks.com/access/helpdesk/help/pdf_doc/optim/optim_tb.pdf (2007)
Moghadam, A.A., Chalaturnyk, R.: Analytical and experimental investigations of gas-flow regimes in shales considering the influence of mean effective stress. SPE J. 21, 557–672 (2016). (SPE-178429)
Morishige, K., Fujii, H., Uga, M., Kinukawa, D.: Capillary critical point of argon, nitrogen, oxygen, ethylene, and carbon dioxide in MCM-41. Langmuir 13(13), 3494–3498 (1997)
Pang, Y., Soliman, M.Y., Deng, H., Emadi, H.: Effect of methane adsorption on stress-dependent porosity and permeability in shale gas reservoirs. In: SPE Low Perm Symposium. Society of Petroleum Engineers (2016). (SPE-180260)
Pitakbunkate, T., Balbuena, P.B., Moridis, G.J., Blasingame, T.A.: Effect of confinement on pressure/volume/temperature properties of hydrocarbons in shale reservoirs. SPE J. 21(02), 621–634 (2016). (SPE-170685-PA)
Poling, B.E., Prausnitz, J.M., John Paul, O.C., Reid, R.C.: The Properties of Gases and Liquids, vol. 5. McGraw-Hill, New York (2001)
Riewchotisakul, S., Akkutlu, I.Y.: Adsorption enhanced transport of hydrocarbons in organic nanopores. In: SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition. Society of Petroleum Engineers (2015). (SPE-175107)
Shampine, L.F.: Vectorized adaptive quadrature in MATLAB. J. Comput. Appl. Math. 211(2), 131–140 (2008)
Singh, S.K., Sinha, A., Deo, G., Singh, J.K.: Vapor- liquid phase coexistence, critical properties, and surface tension of confined alkanes. J. Phys. Chem. C 113(17), 7170–7180 (2009)
Singh, H., Javadpour, F.: Langmuir slip-Langmuir sorption permeability model of shale. Fuel 164, 28–37 (2016)
Swami, V., Clarkson, C.R., Settari, A.: Non-Darcy flow in shale nanopores: do we have a final answer? In: SPE Canadian Unconventional Resources Conference. Society of Petroleum Engineers (2012). (SPE-162665)
Teklu, T.W., Alharthy, N., Kazemi, H., Yin, X., Graves, R.M., AlSumaiti, A.M.: Phase behavior and minimum miscibility pressure in nanopores. SPE Reserv. Eval. Eng. 17(03), 396–403 (2014). (SPE-168865)
Tiab, D., Donaldson, E.C.: Petrophysics: theory and practice of measuring reservoir rock and fluid transport properties. Gulf Professional Publishing, Houston (2015)
Wang, H., Marongiu-Porcu, M.: A unified model of matrix permeability in shale gas formations. In: SPE Reservoir Simulation Symposium. Society of Petroleum Engineers (2015). (SPE-173196)
Wang, S., Javadpour, F., Feng, Q.: Molecular dynamics simulations of oil transport through inorganic nanopores in shale. Fuel 171, 74–86 (2016a)
Wang, S., Javadpour, F., Feng, Q.: Fast mass transport of oil and supercritical carbon dioxide through organic nanopores in shale. Fuel 181, 741–758 (2016b)
Whitby, M., Quirke, N.: Fluid flow in carbon nanotubes and nanopipes. Nat. Nanotechnol. 2(2), 87–94 (2007)
Wu, K., Li, X., Wang, C., Yu, W., Chen, Z.: Model for surface diffusion of adsorbed gas in nanopores of shale gas reservoirs. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 54(12), 3225–3236 (2015)
Wu, K., Li, X., Guo, C., Wang, C., Chen, Z.: A unified model for gas transfer in nanopores of shale-gas reservoirs: coupling pore diffusion and surface diffusion. SPE J. 21, 1583–1611 (2016). (SPE-2014-1921039-PA)
Zarragoicoechea, G.J., Kuz, V.A.: Critical shift of a confined fluid in a nanopore. Fluid Phase Equilib. 220(1), 7–9 (2004)
Acknowledgements
The work presented in this paper was supported by the Department of Energy under Award Number DE-FE0024311.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, X., Sheng, J.J. Understanding Oil and Gas Flow Mechanisms in Shale Reservoirs Using SLD–PR Transport Model. Transp Porous Med 119, 337–350 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-017-0884-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-017-0884-2