Fluid Extraction Tool Using Selective Permeability Agent
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for extracting reservoir fluid samples often result in contaminated samples due to water contamination, especially in transition zones, high-water-cut reservoirs, and fractured reservoirs, making it difficult to obtain high-quality, low-water-content samples efficiently.
Innovation Solution
A fluid extraction tool is used to inject a selective permeability agent (SPA) into the formation, which reduces water-relative permeability and enhances hydrocarbon flow, allowing for the extraction of cleaner, less contaminated samples by selectively modifying permeability in-situ, thereby improving the efficiency and quality of hydrocarbon sampling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If prolonged pumping is used to extract formation fluid samples, then more unwanted mud filtrates are removed, but the pumping time increases and sample quality is not guaranteed
Solution Approach 1:
A selective permeability agent is injected into the formation before sample extraction to pre-modify the permeability characteristics. This preliminary action creates favorable conditions for subsequent sampling by reducing water-relative permeability and enhancing hydrocarbon flow, allowing high-quality samples to be obtained in shorter pumping times without the need for prolonged pumping to remove mud filtrates.
2Reliability
If conventional extraction methods are used in high-water-cut reservoirs, then extraction process is simplified, but water contamination in samples increases
Solution Approach 1:
The selective permeability agent changes the permeability parameters of the formation by reducing water-relative permeability while maintaining or enhancing hydrocarbon permeability. This parameter modification creates a more favorable flow regime that preferentially channels hydrocarbons away from water, enabling high-quality sample extraction from high-water-cut reservoirs with reduced water contamination.
3Reliability
If conventional extraction methods are used in fractured reservoirs, then extraction process is simplified, but water contamination in samples increases due to fracture connectivity with water-bearing layers
Solution Approach 1:
The selective permeability agent is injected into specific zones of the fractured reservoir where fractures connect to water-bearing layers. The agent locally modifies the permeability characteristics in these problematic zones, reducing water flow through fracture networks while preserving hydrocarbon flow paths. This localized quality modification prevents water contamination at the source without requiring complex wellbore-level intervention.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables the extraction of high-quality, low-water-content hydrocarbon samples in a shorter time, effectively reducing water contamination and enhancing the determination of hydrocarbon mobility within the formation, even in challenging reservoir types.
Implementation Method 1
injecting a selective permeability agent (SPA) into the formation, which reduces water-relative permeability and enhances hydrocarbon flow, allowing for the extraction of cleaner, less contaminated samples by selectively modifying permeability in-situ
Data Source
AI summary
A fluid extraction tool can include a body, a sealing pad extending from a portion of the elongated body, a container holding a selective permeability agent (SPA), and a device. The sealing pad can have an opening for establishing fluidic communication between an earth formation and the elongated body, an outer surface to hydraulically seal a region along an inner surface of a wellbore and a recess within the sealing pad establishing a fluid flow channel along the inner surface of the wellbore. The device can inject the SPA through an outlet of the body into the earth formation, and extract a formation fluid through the opening, wherein the formation fluid being collected is from the region along the inner surface of the wellbore sealed off by the sealing pad.