Current Research Activities

Transcription

1 January 23, 2014 Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas Petroleum Engineering Group Speaker: Paolo Macini ALMA MATER STUDIORUM UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA Current Research Activities Characterization of Porous Media Magnetic Resonance application to Porous Media Reservoir Engineering Wettability of reservoir rocks and Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) Drilling Engineering Environmental issues of the Petroleum Industry Land Subsidence due to underground fluids withdrawal Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)

2 Magnetic resonance and porous media KEYWORDS: MRR, MRI, porous media, porosity, permeability, wettability, pore size distribution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Relaxometry (MRR) is an universally accepted technique for the spatially non-resolved determination of structural and transport properties of porous media in a non-destructive and noninvasive way. It is widely used both in core and log analysis to determine petrophysical properties of rocks, such as porosity, pore size distribution, permeability, wettability changes and irreducible water saturation. Reservoir Engineering KEYWORDS: Reservoir Engineering, Petrophysics, Porous Media, Reservoir Fluids, Rock Mechanics Experimental research in the field of reservoir engineering are numerous. Here are recalled only the most important ones, such as: Non-darcy flow in porous media, measurement of rock compressibility at great depth, and studies on hydraulic conductivity of rocks and soils with reference to porosity, grain size distribution and chemistry of saturating fluids.

3 Wettability of reservoir rocks and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) KEYWORDS: Wettability, EOR, Petroleum Reservoirs, NMR Wettability is a petrophysical property that affects oil recovery by controlling the location, flow and distribution of fluids inside the reservoir. Many carbonate reservoirs are oil-wet, which is an unfavorable condition for oil production. Generally, the oil recovery in an oil-wet reservoir is low, and the volume of producible oil by EOR is large. Drilling Engineering KEYWORDS: Drilling rigs, Drill Bits, Drilling Fluids, Oil and Gas Wells, No-Dig, Trenchless The research on Drilling engineering performed at the Department concerns the study of drilling rig mechanics, Drilling Bit Performance Evaluation, lab analyses of inhibitive drilling fluid and optimization and testing of new formulations of fluids utilized in trenchless (or no-dig) drilling.

4 Environment and Petroleum Industry KEYWORDS: Environmental Sustainability, Soil Subsidence, Reservoir Management The research concerning exploration, production and utilization of hydrocarbons is twofold. On one side there are studies on environmental sustainability of the upstream industry in Italy and abroad, aimed to the implementation of strategies of sustainable management of hydrocarbon production in environmentally sensitive areas. 7 Land Subsidence Studies On the other side, the research activity of the Department concerns both regional subsidence studies (including modelling and SAR studies) and specific researches on measurement techniques, and in particular extensometric and in-situ Radioactive Marker Technique (RMT) measurements. 8

5 Carbon capture and storage KEYWORDS: Carbon Capture and Storage, Greenhouse Gases, Energy Production, Global Climate Change Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage technology (CCS) is a process consisting of the separation of CO2 from industrial and energy-related sources, transport to storage locations and long-term isolation from the atmosphere, mainly in underground geologic formations. Among these geologic formations, depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs (oil and gas fields), deep saline aquifers (not suitable for fresh water production) and unmineable coal seams are the best candidates. 9 Teaching activity 1/3 Crude Oil and Natural Gas Engineering T (BSc, 9 CFU, ITA) Introduction to petroleum economics and related geopolitical issues. Fundamentals of hydrocarbon upstream (Exploration & Production industry). Fundamentals of drilling and production engineering. Oil and gas transportation systems. Environmental management of hydrocarbon production and fossil fuel consumption. Well logging, petrophysical parameters of reservoir rocks, thermodynamical classification of oil and gas reservoirs, hydrocarbon transportation, underground gas storage. Aquifers Engineering T (BSc, 6 CFU, ITA) Study of underground water flow in both confined and unconfined aquifers. Types of aquifers, water in soils, granulometry of soils, porosity, hydraulic conductivity, wettability, water retention curves. Motion law of fluids in porous media: mass conservation theorem, Darcy's law. General issues about soil and water pollution. Water-soluble pollutant transport equation. Pumping test to estimate water reservoir parameters. Techniques to construct and manage water wells. Numerical techniques to simulate the water-reservoir behavior. 10

6 Teaching activity 2/3 Multiphase Flow Modeling M (MSc, 3 CFU, ITA) The course provides the mathematical tools to simulate the production life of hydrocarbon and geothermal reservoirs, i.e., the philosophy and methodology behind numerical simulation, differential equations governing the two- and three-phase fluids flow in porous media, discretization of differential equations and their numerical integration, analysis of the typical numerical simulators architecture used in the industrial environment. Simulators are used in planning the development of a reservoir or in operation for the location of new production wells and forecast the future production. Reservoir Engineering M (MSc, 9 CFU, ITA) Application of the scientific principles to the drainage problems arising during the development and production of oil and gas reservoirs, so as to obtain a high economic recovery. Basic laws of physics and chemistry governing the behavior of liquid and vapor phases of crude oil, natural gas, and water in reservoir rock. Hydrocarbon reserves evaluation and production optimization, production forecasting, well testing, PVT analysis of reservoir fluids. Reservoir depletion mechanisms, secondary recovery, such as waterflooding or gas injection to maximize hydrocarbon recovery, EOR Techniques. 11 Teaching activity 3/3 Underground Fluids: Drilling and Completion Engineering M (MSc, 6 CFU, ITA) The Course is focused on subsurface exploration and drilling engineering applied to the design and construction of deep wells for underground fluid production (Water, Oil & Gas, Geothermal Fluids). The Course is aimed to the study of well design and production processes, and is completed with exercises, case history studies, and laboratory practices. The course includes also the study of the state-of-the-art of Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS) in geological formations. Petroleum Geosystems M (MSc, 6 CFU, ENG) The Course is addressed to provide the basic knowledge of petroleum systems and petroleum engineering, with special reference to exploration, drilling and production engineering. These topics represent strategic elements as far as world energy supply is concerned. The Course is completed with an introduction to the study of petroleum economics, project management and engineering phases of the petroleum industry, with applicative exercises and laboratory practices. 12