US Gulf Coast geopressured-geothermal reservoir simulation. Final report (Year 3)
Several reservoir model improvements incorporated into the UTA model are described. The most significant modification to the model was the inclusion of semiimplicit treatment of transmissibilities so as to better handle two-phase flow problems associated with flow near the wellbore. A description of the reservoir mechanics presumed operative in geopressured-geothermal reservoirs is included. A mathematical model describing two-dimensional flow in compacting porous media is developed from the Lagrangian point of view. A description of the way the differential equations are approximated by finite differences and subsequently solved by means of numerical procedures is presented. Various sensitivity studies made with the reservoir model are described. Particular emphasis was given to the study of potential shale dewatering effects on reservoir depletion and the effects of compaction on fluid recovery. To study shale dewatering, the shale thickness and the shale vertical permeability were treated as variables in several simulation experiments. The effects of compaction were modeled with optimistic and pessimistic values for the uniaxial compaction coefficient in an attempt to define a region of expected reservoir performance. Laboratory analysis of core samples obtained from the geopressured-geothermal test well was completed by the end of year 3. These data indicate that the uniaxial compaction coefficient is of the same order of magnitude as the pessimistic value used on the sensitivity studies. Because of this the expected fluid recovery from geopressured reservoirs has been reduced to a nominal 5% of the in-place volumes rather than the previously reported 10%.
- Research Organization:
- Texas Univ., Austin (US). Center for Energy Studies (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Not Available (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76ET28463
- OSTI ID:
- 6548221
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ET/28463-T1; ON: DE83005131; TRN: US200508%%61
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Portions are illegible in microfiche products; PBD: 1 Jan 1979
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
EXPLORATORY WELLS
LAGRANGIAN FUNCTION
MODIFICATIONS
PERMEABILITY
SENSITIVITY
SHALES
SIMULATION
THICKNESS
TWO-PHASE FLOW
US GULF COAST
WATER REMOVAL
GEOPRESSURED SYSTEMS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
AQUIFERS
COMPACTING
GEOTHERMAL WELLS
LOUISIANA
PERFORMANCE
RESERVOIR ENGINEERING
ENERGY SYSTEMS
ENGINEERING
NORTH AMERICA
USA
WELLS
GEOTHERMAL LEGACY
150201* - Geology & Hydrology of Geothermal Systems- USA- (-1989)