Speaker
Description
Unconventional shale oil and gas plays an important role in the global energy transition. However, predicting oil and gas production from shale formations remains a critical challenge, largely due to the abnormal thermodynamic phase change behavior and nonequilibrium multiphase fluid flow within the extensive nanometer-scale pore spaces in shale rocks. While the abnormal behaviors have been extensively studied in a single nanopore or a few nanopores, its manifestation in complex nanopore networks remains poorly understood and rigorously derived macroscopic phase behavior formulations are not yet available. To address these challenges, we have developed a group of (static and dynamic) pore-network models that can represent the resolved nanopore spaces in shale rocks and account for molecular-level phase change and multiphase fluid flow processes therein. Our simulations highlight the critical role of pore size distribution in upscaling single-nanopore phase behavior to core-scale, and reveal the importance of the coupling effects between thermodynamic phase change and multiphase fluid flow. These advancements provide a foundation for integrating pore-scale physics into reservoir-scale models, offering a powerful tool to optimize shale energy production for advancing energy transition.
| Country | USA |
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