Effect of permeability and fractures on oil mobilization of unconventional resources during CO2 EOR using nuclear magnetic resonance

Abstract

Abstract CO2 EOR (enhanced oil recovery) will be one of main technologies of enhanced unconventional resources recovery. Understanding effect of permeability and fractures on the oil mobilization of unconventional resources, i.e. tight oil, is crucial during CO2 EOR process. Exposure experiments based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) were used to study the interaction between CO2 and tight oil reservoirs in Chang 8 layer of Ordos Basin at 40 °C and 12 MPa. Effect of permeability and fractures on oil mobilization of exposure experiments were investigated for the different exposure time. The oil was mobilized from matrix to the surface of matrix and the oil recovery increased as the exposure time increased. The final oil recovery increased as the core permeability increased in these exposure experiments. Exposure area increased to 1.75 times by fractures resulting in that oil was mobilized faster in the initial stage of exposure experiment and the final oil recovery increased to 1.19 times from 28.8 to 34.2%. This study shows the quantitative results of effect of permeability and fractures on oil mobilization of unconventional resources during CO2 EOR, which will support CO2 EOR design in Chang 8 layer of Ordos Basin.