Study of Multiple Transport Mechanisms in Nanopores and Their Impacts on Shale Gas Reservoir Production
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2019-11-20
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Abstract
The boom production of shale gas has impacted the world in recent decades. The hydraulic fracturing technology is widely used in the development of shale gas reservoirs. Models for accurate numerical simulation are essential for the economic development of such reservoirs. In this thesis, a model of shale gas reservoir production is proposed with consideration of slip flow, Knudsen diffusion, surface diffusion, gas adsorption/desorption, stress dependence of a pore structure, non-ideal gas effects, two-phase flow, and the flow mechanism differences between organic and inorganic content in the shale matrix. This model is implemented in an in-house simulator with a coupled MINC-EDFM model to study and predict behavior in production. Comprehensive sensitivity studies are also performed to analyze the importance of different parameters in shale gas production. The parameters are divided into two categories: reservoir data, including shale matrix porosity, a nanopore radius, an organic/inorganic volume ratio, hydraulic fracture half-length, and fracture spacing; and flow mechanism variables, including the non-ideal gas effects, stress dependence, the presence of an absorbed layer, as well as the influence of the flow mechanism model selected. Through analysis, hydraulic fracture data impacts the gas production more than reservoir matrix data; and in the 1 nm pore radius synthetic case, the adsorption layer is more sensitive, compared with the non-ideal gas effects and stress dependence. The result can help optimize reservoir design. Moreover, the simulator constructed can be employed to predict the future gas field production, which has economic significance in the enhancement of natural gas production.
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Cheng, S. (2019). Study of Multiple Transport Mechanisms in Nanopores and Their Impacts on Shale Gas Reservoir Production (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.