Study on the Flow Mechanism of Shale Oil with Different Injection Media

Abstract

Chinese shale oil has high recoverable resources and great development potential. However, due to the limitation of development technology, the recovery rate of shale oil is not high. In this paper, the effects of different injection media on the development of shale oil reservoirs in Dongying formation, Qikou depression, Huanghua depression, and Bohai bay basin, were studied by means of imbibition and nitrogen flooding. Combining nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technology with imbibition and gas displacement experiments, the mechanism of shale injected formation water, active water (surfactant), and nitrogen was reproduced. The displacement process of crude oil under different injection media and injection conditions was truly demonstrated, and the relationship between different development methods and the pore boundaries used was clarified. A theoretical basis for the effective development of shale oil was provided. At the same time, Changqing tight oil cores with similar permeability to Dagang shale oil cores were selected for comparison. The results showed that, as the imbibition time of shale samples increased, the imbibition efficiency increased. Pores with T2 100 ms pore throat of shale contributed to the main oil displacement efficiency, with an average oil displacement efficiency contribution of 63.16%. And the relaxation interval 10 < T2 < 100 ms pore throat displacement efficiency contributed to 28.27%. T2 < 10 ms pore throat contributed the least to the oil displacement efficiency, with an average oil displacement efficiency contribution of 8.58%. Compared with tight sandstone with similar permeability, shale had lower oil displacement efficiency. The findings of this study can help for better understanding of the influence of different injection media on shale oil recovery effect.