Pressure-Predicting Model for Ultralow-Permeability Reservoirs considering the Water Absorption Characteristics of Mudstone Formations

Abstract EN

The injection-production ratio of ultralow-permeability reservoirs is generally higher in the early stage of development because of the water absorption characteristics of transition layers and mudstone formations.

In this paper, the water absorption characteristics of mudstone are experimentally studied, and the empirical function of the water absorption process is established.

A new mathematical model of the whole lithology is established by applying the research results of mudstone water absorption characteristics.

Combining the material balance method and finite difference method, the space terms in the basic differential equation are replaced by the material balance equation, and the finite difference in the time term is obtained.

Then, the analytical solutions of the average pressures of the reservoir oil well area, reservoir water well area, transition layers, and mudstone formations are solved.

Based on the static parameters of the reservoir in the Chaoyang Gou Oilfield of the ultralow-permeability reservoir in China, the new pressure prediction model is verified by the ideal model of numerical simulation and production data of the oil field.

The experimental results show that the saturation water absorption rate of mudstone is 1.54-2.55%, and the water absorption process of mudstone cannot be described by the seepage equation of sandstone.

The verification results of the numerical simulation show that the pressure of the transition layers and mudstone at the end of the water well gradually increases, while the pressure at the end of the oil well basically remains unchanged, which is consistent with the assumptions of the model.

The verification results of the oilfield production data show that the water well static pressure and oil well static pressure calculated by the new model are highly consistent with the actual values, which well explains the phenomenon of the low reservoir pressure level under the condition of a high injection production ratio in an ultralow-permeability reservoir.