Performance Evaluation of CO2 Huff-n-puff Processes in Tight Oil Formations

Abstract Techniques have been developed to experimentally and numerically evaluate performance of CO2 huff-n-puff processes for unlocking resources from tight oil formations. Experimentally, core samples collected from a tight formation with a permeability range of 0.27-0.83 mD are used to conduct a series of coreflooding experiments. The performance of four recovery schemes, i.e., waterflooding, immiscible CO2 huff-n-puff, near-miscible CO2 huff-n-puff, and miscible CO2 huff-n-puff processes, is evaluated with the tight core samples. The waterflooding process leads to a higher oil recovery factor in comparison with the immiscible CO2 huff-n-puff process, while both the near-miscible and miscible CO2 huff-n-puff processes result in higher recovery efficiency compared to that of waterflooding. Theoretically, numerical simulation is performed to match the experimental measurements obtained in the different recovery schemes. There exists a generally good agreement between the experimental measurements and simulated results. The tuned numerical model is then employed to optimize the injection pressure and soaking time during CO2 huff-n-puff processes. It is found that the optimum injection pressure of the CO2 huff-n-puff process can be set around the minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) between crude oil and CO2, while the soaking time can be optimized for maximizing oil recovery.