Evaluating Reservoir Risks and Their Influencing Factors during CO2 Injection into Multilayered Reservoirs

• Main Authors: Lu Shi, Bing Bai, Haiqing Wu, Xiaochun Li
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi-Wiley 2017-01-01
• Series: Geofluids
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/6059142

Wellbore and site safety must be ensured during CO2 injection into multiple reservoirs during carbon capture and storage projects. This study focuses on multireservoir injection and investigates the characteristics of the flow-rate distribution and reservoir-risk evaluation as well as their unique influences on multireservoir injection. The results show that more CO2 enters the upper layers than the lower layers. With the increase in injection pressure, the risks of the upper reservoirs increase more dramatically than those of the low reservoirs, which can cause the critical reservoir (CR) to shift. The CO2 injection temperature has a similar effect on the injection flow rate but no effect on the CR’s location. Despite having no effect on the flow-rate distribution, the formation-fracturing pressures in the reservoirs determine which layer becomes the CR. As the thickness or permeability of a layer increases, the inflows exhibit upward and downward trends in this layer and the lower layers, respectively, whereas the inflows of the upper layers remain unchanged; meanwhile, the risks of the lower layer and those of the others decrease and remain constant, respectively. Compared to other parameters, the reservoir porosities have a negligible effect on the reservoir risks and flow-rate distributions.