Using Nanoporous Core-Samples to Mimic the Effect of Petrophysical Parameters on Natural Gas Flowrate in an Unconventional Gas Reservoir

E. Ogoun, O. Abunumah, F. Aisueni, E. Gobina
Robert Gordon University,
United Kingdom

Keywords: nanoporous, petrophysical parameters, Klinkenberg effect, non-Darcy flow

Summary:

This work adopts ceramic core technology, which has gained significant attention over the last decades, to enable laboratory study of the permeation of gases continuously under mild conditions and under realistic pressure drops with very low consumption of energy with no required additives. The study is designed to mimic the effect of petrophysical parameters on gas flow in a tight reservoir using nano-porous core samples. Experiments were carried out, involving a procedure that requires the release of different gases contained in a gas cylinder to an assemblage of nano-cores fitted into the centre of an anulus of a shell and tube arrangement. The nano-core samples had varying pore throats and were studied at different temperature and pressure conditions. Suitable data were collected and analysed with statistical tools to showcase the influence of porosity, permeability and fluid saturation on the flowrate associated in extracting gas from unconventional reservoirs. The results established that several factors impact on the accumulation and migration of gas in an unconventional gas reservoir and these factors determine the rate at which gas flows from the reservoir to the well-bore.