Numerical Analysis of Forced and Spontaneous Imbibition of Modified-Salinity Water in Chalk

Relative permeability and capillary pressure have a strong impact on the simulation results of fluid flow in a reservoir. In this work, the results of spontaneous imbibition experiments are added to the modelling and fitting of the relative permeability and capillary pressure correlation. During spontaneous imbibition experiments the oil recovery relies predominantly on the capillary pressure, which gives a solid base to estimate the parameters for the capillary pressure curve.

Additionally, they offer a second dataset to fit the relative permeability curve as well, potentially reducing the uncertainty for these parameters. The model for the imbibition phase as well as the subsequent core flood were set up using CMG-GEM. It is also possible to inject a modified salinity brines into the imbibition cell and investigate their influence.

All variables were optimized by coupling Matlab to CMG-GEM. The convergence is better for variables, which are influenced by both the core flooding and the spontaneous imbibition.