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Advances in Geo-Energy Research 2022, 6(4): 286-295 https://doi.org/10.46690/ager.2022.04.03
Original Article | Open Access | Issue | Published: 15 May 2022

Effect of dynamic threshold pressure gradient on production performance in water-bearing tight gas reservoir

Show Author's Information Weiyao Zhu1,  Yuwei Liu1,  Yunqing Shi2,3,  Guodong Zou1,  Qitao Zhang4,  Debin Kong1( )
School of Civil and Resources Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, P. R. China
Research Institute of Exploration and Production, Sinopec, Beijing 100083, P. R. China
Key Laboratory for Marine Oil and Gas Exploitation, Sinopec, Beijing 100083, P. R. China
John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, 16801, USA
Keywords:
Dynamic threshold pressure gradient, water-bearing, tight gas reservoir, production model
Cite this article:
Zhu W, Liu Y, Shi Y, et al. Effect of dynamic threshold pressure gradient on production performance in water-bearing tight gas reservoir. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2022, 6(4): 286-295. https://doi.org/10.46690/ager.2022.04.03
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Abstract Full text About this article

Water content and distribution have important impacts on gas production in water-bearing tight gas reservoirs. However, due to the structural and chemical heterogeneity of tight reservoirs, the water phase exists in various states, which has complicated the analyses of the effects of water characteristics on tight gas production performance. In this work, the water phase is distinguished from immobile to mobile states and the term of constrained water saturation is proposed. It is established that water can flow when the driving pressure difference is larger than the critical driving pressure difference. A new theoretical model of threshold pressure gradient is derived to incorporate the influences of constrained water saturation and permeability. On this basis, a new prediction model considering the varied threshold pressure gradient is obtained, and the result indicates that when threshold pressure gradient is constant, the real gas production capacity of the reservoir will be weakened. Meanwhile, a dynamic supply boundary model is presented, which indicates that the permeability has a strong influence on the dynamic supply boundary, whereas the impact of initial water saturation is negligible. These findings provide insights into the understanding of the effects of water state and saturation on the threshold pressure gradient and gas production rate in tight gas reservoirs. Furthermore, this study provides useful guidance on the prediction of field-scale gas production.


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About this article

Effect of dynamic threshold pressure gradient on production performance in water-bearing tight gas reservoir

Show Author's information Weiyao Zhu1, Yuwei Liu1, Yunqing Shi2,3, Guodong Zou1, Qitao Zhang4, Debin Kong1( )
School of Civil and Resources Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, P. R. China
Research Institute of Exploration and Production, Sinopec, Beijing 100083, P. R. China
Key Laboratory for Marine Oil and Gas Exploitation, Sinopec, Beijing 100083, P. R. China
John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, 16801, USA

Abstract

Water content and distribution have important impacts on gas production in water-bearing tight gas reservoirs. However, due to the structural and chemical heterogeneity of tight reservoirs, the water phase exists in various states, which has complicated the analyses of the effects of water characteristics on tight gas production performance. In this work, the water phase is distinguished from immobile to mobile states and the term of constrained water saturation is proposed. It is established that water can flow when the driving pressure difference is larger than the critical driving pressure difference. A new theoretical model of threshold pressure gradient is derived to incorporate the influences of constrained water saturation and permeability. On this basis, a new prediction model considering the varied threshold pressure gradient is obtained, and the result indicates that when threshold pressure gradient is constant, the real gas production capacity of the reservoir will be weakened. Meanwhile, a dynamic supply boundary model is presented, which indicates that the permeability has a strong influence on the dynamic supply boundary, whereas the impact of initial water saturation is negligible. These findings provide insights into the understanding of the effects of water state and saturation on the threshold pressure gradient and gas production rate in tight gas reservoirs. Furthermore, this study provides useful guidance on the prediction of field-scale gas production.

Keywords: Dynamic threshold pressure gradient, water-bearing, tight gas reservoir, production model

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Publication history

Received: 14 April 2022
Revised: 08 May 2022
Accepted: 13 May 2022
Published: 15 May 2022
Issue date: August 2022

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© The Author(s) 2022.

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Natural Sciences for Youth Foundation of China (No. 42102163) and the Fundamental Research Funds of the Central Universities (No. FRF-TP-20-006A1). The authors would also like to thank the reviewers and editors whose critical comments were very helpful for the preparation of this article.

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Open Access This article is distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY-NC-ND) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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