Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
6.2
3.0
Journals
Energies
Special Issues
Hydrocarbon Recovery Technologies for Fractured Unconventional and Tight Reservoirs
energies-logo
Submit to Special Issue Submit Abstract to Special Issue Review for Energies Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

► Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser
share announcement

Hydrocarbon Recovery Technologies for Fractured Unconventional and Tight Reservoirs

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "H: Geo-Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 January 2025 | Viewed by 4779

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Lu Jin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC), University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND, USA
Interests: reservoir modeling and simulation; enhanced oil recovery; CO2 EOR and storage; unconventional reservoir development; water coning control; multiphase flow in porous media
Dr. Xincheng Wan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC), University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND, USA
Interests: geomechanics; hydraulic fracturing; refracturing and reservoir simulation for unconventional reservoirs; enhanced oil recovery
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Shaojie Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Resources and Geoscience, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, China
Interests: shale oil and gas development; reservoir modeling and simulation; petroleum geology; enhanced oil recovery; flow in porous media; geological CO2 storage
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Nicholas A. Azzolina

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC), University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND, USA
Interests: machine learning; production from conventional and unconventional reservoirs; hydrogeology; enhanced oil recovery (EOR); CO2 capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS); risk assessment

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The oil and gas industry is constantly seeking new and innovative technologies to more effectively and efficiently recover hydrocarbons from subsurface reservoirs. With the increasing demand for energy and the depletion of conventional reserves, unconventional and tight (or low-permeability) reservoirs have become increasingly important for exploration and production. For example, in 2022, over 60% of the total U.S. crude oil production was from tight oil resources. However, unconventional resources are more challenging to develop and their oil/gas recovery factors are significantly lower than those of conventional reservoirs. These challenges, combined with the demand for greater oil and gas production from these resources, require innovation and step-change improvements in development strategies and technologies.

To further unlock the oil and gas production potential from unconventional/tight formations, this Special Issue aims to bring together experts in the field of unconventional reservoir development to share their knowledge, experiences, and latest advancements in the area. We invite investigators to submit original research articles, case studies, and review papers to address the most significant challenges and exchange ideas on hydrocarbon recovery technologies for these unconventional resources. Potential topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Fractured reservoir modeling and simulation;
  • Improved and enhanced oil recovery (IOR/EOR) technologies;
  • Analysis of production behavior in unconventional/tight reservoirs;
  • Field observations of fracturing, refracturing, and EOR operations;
  • Hydrocarbon flow mechanisms in unconventional/tight reservoirs;
  • Data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence for unconventional reservoirs;
  • Advanced fracture characterization and modeling;
  • Advanced reservoir characterization technologies;
  • Reservoir and production monitoring technologies;
  • Feasibility studies and economic analysis for unconventional reservoir development.

Dr. Lu Jin
Dr. Xincheng Wan
Dr. Shaojie Zhang
Dr. Nicholas A. Azzolina
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Unconventional/tight reservoirs;
  • Fractured reservoir modeling and simulation;
  • Fractured reservoir development;
  • Improved oil/gas recovery;
  • Enhanced oil/gas recovery;
  • Seepage mechanisms;
  • Machine learning and artificial intelligence;
  • Production analysis.

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (4 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

22 pages, 4964 KiB  
Article
Fluid Flow Behavior in Nanometer-Scale Pores and Its Impact on Shale Oil Recovery Efficiency
by Xiangji Dou, Menxing Qian, Xinli Zhao, An Wang, Zhengdong Lei, Erpeng Guo and Yufei Chen
Energies 2024, 17(18), 4677; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17184677 - 20 Sep 2024
Viewed by 529
Abstract
Shale oil reservoirs, as an unconventional hydrocarbon resource, have the potential to substitute conventional hydrocarbon resources and alleviate energy shortages, making their exploration and development critically significant. However, due to the low permeability and the development of nanopores in shale reservoirs, shale oil [...] Read more.
Shale oil reservoirs, as an unconventional hydrocarbon resource, have the potential to substitute conventional hydrocarbon resources and alleviate energy shortages, making their exploration and development critically significant. However, due to the low permeability and the development of nanopores in shale reservoirs, shale oil production is challenging and recovery efficiency is low. During the imbibition stage, fracturing fluid displaces the oil in the pores primarily under capillary forces, but the complex pore structure of shale reservoirs makes the imbibition mechanism unclear. This research studies the imbibition flow mechanism in nanopores based on the capillary force model and two-phase flow theory, coupled with numerical simulation methods. The results indicated that within a nanopore diameter range of 10–20 nm, increasing the pore diameter leads to a higher imbibition displacement volume. Increased pressure can enhance the imbibition displacement, but the effect diminishes gradually. Under the water-wet conditions, the imbibition displacement volume increases as the contact angle decreases. When the oil phase viscosity decreases from 10 mPa·s to 1 mPa·s, the imbibition displacement rate can increase by 72%. Moreover, merely increasing the water phase viscosity results in only a 5% increase in the imbibition displacement rate. The results provide new insights into the imbibition flow mechanism in nanopores within shale oil reservoirs and offer a theoretical foundation and technical support for efficient shale oil development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hydrocarbon Recovery Technologies for Fractured Unconventional and Tight Reservoirs)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

22 pages, 13222 KiB  
Article
Driving Forces of Natural Gas Flow and Gas–Water Distribution Patterns in Tight Gas Reservoirs: A Case Study of NX Gas Field in the Offshore Xihu Depression, East China
by Xianke He, Jun Li, Dongping Duan, Binbin Liu, Xiaoqing Shang, Wenjun Li, Zeyang Xu, Zhiwei Du and Chenhang Xu
Energies 2023, 16(16), 6028; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16166028 - 17 Aug 2023
Viewed by 1345
Abstract
The driving forces behind gas flow and migration, as well as the associated gas–water distribution patterns in tight gas reservoirs, are not only closely related to the formation mechanisms of “sweet spots”, but also serve as crucial geological foundations for the development of [...] Read more.
The driving forces behind gas flow and migration, as well as the associated gas–water distribution patterns in tight gas reservoirs, are not only closely related to the formation mechanisms of “sweet spots”, but also serve as crucial geological foundations for the development of efficient modes and optimal well placement. In this work, three methods, namely, critical gas column height driven by buoyancy, critical pore throat radius driven by buoyancy, and gas–water distribution attitude, were used to quantitatively evaluate the critical conditions for buoyancy and overpressure to get gas flowing in the tight sandstone gas field. In light of the geological background, the driving forces of gas flow/migration and gas–water distribution patterns were comprehensively analyzed. On this basis of the origins of overpressure driving gas flow/migration were identified by using multiple empirical methods, the evolution of overpressure and characteristics of gas–water distribution driven by overpressure were studied by using PetroMod_2014 simulation software. The results show that the four main gas-bearing layers in the NX tight sandstone gas reservoir differ widely in gas flow/migration dynamics and gas–water distribution patterns. Gas accumulation in the H3b layer is influenced by both buoyancy and overpressure. Subsequently, buoyancy leads to the differentiation of gas from water based on density and the formation of edge water. Furthermore, the distribution area of the gas reservoir is determined by the presence of an anticline trap. In contrast, in H3a, H4b and H5a gas layers, buoyancy is not sufficient to overcome the capillary force to make the gas migrate during and after accumulation, and the driving force of gas flow is the overpressure formed by fluid volume expansion during hydrocarbon generation of Pinghu Formation source rocks. Because buoyancy is not the driving force of natural gas flow, H3a, H4b and H5a layers have gas and water in the same layer and produced together, and no boundary and bottom water, where the anticlinal trap does not control the distribution of gas and water, and gas source faults control the boundary of the gas reservoir. These understandings not only significantly expand the gas-bearing target of H3a, H4b and H5a gas layers delineated in the buoyancy driving pattern but also provide an important geological basis for the formulation of an efficient development plan by class and grade for the NX tight sandstone gas field. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hydrocarbon Recovery Technologies for Fractured Unconventional and Tight Reservoirs)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 14068 KiB  
Article
Hydraulic Fracture Propagation and Proppant Transport Mechanism in Interlayered Reservoir
by Jue Wang, Genbo Peng, Ziyuan Cong and Buqin Hu
Energies 2023, 16(13), 5017; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16135017 - 28 Jun 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1428
Abstract
Hydraulic fracture is crucial for assuring well production from unconventional reservoirs. For the optimization of hydraulic fracture geometry and the ensuing production of an interlayered reservoir, vertical hydraulic fracture propagation path has been analyzed. However, an effective fluid channel cannot be formed if [...] Read more.
Hydraulic fracture is crucial for assuring well production from unconventional reservoirs. For the optimization of hydraulic fracture geometry and the ensuing production of an interlayered reservoir, vertical hydraulic fracture propagation path has been analyzed. However, an effective fluid channel cannot be formed if the proppant is unable to reach the area where the fracture propagates. This paper presents a numerical model using the lattice-based method to investigate the hydraulic fracture propagation and proppant transport mechanism in interlayered reservoirs. The hydraulic fracture propagation model was simulated under different geological and fracturing engineering factors. The results indicate that interlayer Young’s modulus and horizontal stress anisotropy are positively correlated with longitudinal propagation and proppant carrying ability in interlayered formations. The fracturing injection rate has an optimal solution for fracture propagation and proppant carrying since a too low injection rate is unfavorable for fracture penetration of the interlayer, while a too high injection rate increases fracture width instead of further fracture penetration. In conclusion, attention is drawn to fine particle size proppants used in multi-layer reservoirs for fracturing fluid to carry proppants as far as possible to obtain maximum propped area. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hydrocarbon Recovery Technologies for Fractured Unconventional and Tight Reservoirs)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

32 pages, 12817 KiB  
Review
Progress of Gas Injection EOR Surveillance in the Bakken Unconventional Play—Technical Review and Machine Learning Study
by Jin Zhao, Lu Jin, Xue Yu, Nicholas A. Azzolina, Xincheng Wan, Steven A. Smith, Nicholas W. Bosshart, James A. Sorensen and Kegang Ling
Energies 2024, 17(17), 4200; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17174200 - 23 Aug 2024
Viewed by 773
Abstract
Although considerable laboratory and modeling activities were performed to investigate the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) mechanisms and potential in unconventional reservoirs, only limited research has been reported to investigate actual EOR implementations and their surveillance in fields. Eleven EOR pilot tests that used [...] Read more.
Although considerable laboratory and modeling activities were performed to investigate the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) mechanisms and potential in unconventional reservoirs, only limited research has been reported to investigate actual EOR implementations and their surveillance in fields. Eleven EOR pilot tests that used CO2, rich gas, surfactant, water, etc., have been conducted in the Bakken unconventional play since 2008. Gas injection was involved in eight of these pilots with huff ‘n’ puff, flooding, and injectivity operations. Surveillance data, including daily production/injection rates, bottomhole injection pressure, gas composition, well logs, and tracer testing, were collected from these tests to generate time-series plots or analytics that can inform operators of downhole conditions. A technical review showed that pressure buildup, conformance issues, and timely gas breakthrough detection were some of the main challenges because of the interconnected fractures between injection and offset wells. The latest operation of co-injecting gas, water, and surfactant through the same injection well showed that these challenges could be mitigated by careful EOR design and continuous reservoir monitoring. Reservoir simulation and machine learning were then conducted for operators to rapidly predict EOR performance and take control actions to improve EOR outcomes in unconventional reservoirs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hydrocarbon Recovery Technologies for Fractured Unconventional and Tight Reservoirs)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-4

Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Title: A Review of Hydrocarbon Recovery Technologies for Fractured Unconventional and Tight Reservoirs
Authors: Lu Jin
Affiliation: Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC), University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, United States

Title: Characterization of Organic and Inorganic Pores in Longmaxi Shale
Authors: Shaojie Zhang
Affiliation: Department of Geology, China University of Mining and Technology

Title: Experimental and Numerical Studies of Water Imbibition in Shale Rocks
Authors: Shaojie Zhang
Affiliation: Department of Geology, China University of Mining and Technology

Title: A Review of Enhanced Oil Recovery Applications in North Dakota
Authors: Xincheng Wan
Affiliation: Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC), University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, United States

Title: Interpretation of high - over mature hydrocarbon source rock ground history information based on Raman spectral features
Authors: Huijun Wang
Affiliation: China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, China

Title: Micro-seismicity Based Modelling of Induced Fracture Net-works in Unconventional Reservoirs
Authors: Quoc P. Nguyen
Affiliation: Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering The University of Texas at Austin

Back to TopTop