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Petroleum Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2023 2023.

Investigation of Cyclic Gaseous Solvent Injection for Enhanced Oil Recovery in Unconventional Formations , Samuel Asante Afari

A Data Driven Approach To Optimize Re-Fracturing Operations In The Williston Basin , Joshua Kroschel

“Blue” Hydrogen & Helium From Flare Gas Of The Bakken Formation Of The Williston Basin, North Dakota: A Novel Process , Martin R. Leipzig

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

The Impact Of Stress Dependent Permeability Alteration On Gas Based EOR In The Bakken Formation , Ailin Assady

Evaluation Of CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery In Unconventional Reservoirs , Nidhal Badrouchi

Fracture Initiation And Propagation In Shale Formations With Anisotropic Toughness , Nourelhouda Benouadah

The Effect Of Mineral Composition On Elastic Properties Of The Bakken Formation In The Williston Basin, North Dakota , John Albert Harju

Rock Physics Based Velocity-Porosity Correlations Developed For Estimation Of The Elastic Properties Of The Bakken Formations Of The Williston Basin, North Dakota , Lynn D. Helms

Multiple Surface Pipeline Leak Detection Using Real-Time Sensor Data Analysis , Francis Enejo Idachaba

High Resolution Compositional Characterization Of Degraded Crude Oils Using Petroleomics , Miguel Fernando Jimenez Jacome

Investigation Of Transient Multiphase Flow Performance In Undulating Horizontal Unconventional Wells , Youcef Khetib

Impact Of CO2 Storage On The Geomechanical And Geophysical Properties Of Bakken Formation , Ogochukwu Ozotta

Characterization Of Vertical Growth Of Fractures In Layered Formations , Vibhas Jagdish Pandey

Data Driven Approach To Saltwater Disposal (SWD) Well Location Optimization In North Dakota , Kalyanaraman Venugopal

Modeling And Simulations Of Stress Shadow Effect On Multistage Hydraulic Fractures , Agustinus Zandy

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Numerical Simulations Of Hydraulic Fracturing Through Perforated Wellbores , Omar Akash

Development Of Image Processing Techniques For Core-Scale Characterization And Synthetic 3D-Printed Core Replicas , Ahmed Galal Alqassaby Almetwally

Hole Cleaning And Cuttings Transportation Modelling And Optimization , Foued Badrouchi

Integrative Approach For Improved Oil Recovery In Unconventional Reservoirs , Abdulaziz Ellafi

Investigation Of Factors That Affect Site Selection For Geothermal Energy Extraction In North Dakota , Ogonna Obinwa

Hydraulic Fracture Propagation And Its Geometry Evolvement In Transversely Isotropic Formations , Dezhi Qiu

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Carbon-Dioxide Pipeline Infrastructure Route Optimization And Network Modeling For Carbon Capture Storage And Utilization , Karthik Balaji

Simulation Of Notch Driven Hydraulic Fracture In Open Hole Completion , Nejma Djabelkhir

Application And Development Of Advanced Atomic-Scale Analysis And Simulations For Complex Systems , Hyeonseok Lee

Molecular Simulation Study Of Enhanced Oil Recovery Methods In Tight Formation , Chuncheng Li

Evaluation Of Gas Hydrate In Gas Pipeline Transportation , Paschal Ogadi Mokwenye

Treatment Of Bakken Produced Water Using Supercritical Water Desalination , Joshua Oloruntimilehin Oluwayomi

Coupled Simulation Of Hydraulic Fracturing, Production, And Refracturing For Unconventional Reservoirs , Xincheng Wan

Enhanced Hydrocarbon Recovery In Tight And Shale Reservoirs Using Surfactants And Supercritical CO2 , Shaojie Zhang

Surfactant-Nanoparticle Augmented Systems For Enhanced Oil Recovery: Formula Development And Evaluation , Xun Zhong

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Multi-Scale Organic Material Characterization Of The Bakken Source Rock , Arash Abarghani

Impact Of Stress On The Characterization Of The Flow Units In The Complex Three Forks Reservoir, Williston Basin , Aldjia Boualam

Fracture Detection And Prediction In Unconventional Reservoirs For Finding Sweet Spot , Sofiane Djezzar

Fine Scale Characterization Of Organic Matter Using Analytical Methods: Raman And NMR Spectroscopies , Seyedalireza Khatibi

Innovation Of Petrophysical And Geomechanical Experiment Methodologies: The Application Of 3D Printing Technology , Lingyun Kong

NMR Characterization And Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery Using Surfactants In Unconventional Reservoirs , Mohamed Mohamed Awad Mohamed

Reservoir Characterization And Simulation Of Enhanced Oil Recovery For Bakken , Runxuan Sun

Evaluation Of CO2 Flooding In Tight Formation , Sai Wang

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Molecular Dynamics Simulation Of Gas Transport And Adsorption In Ultra-Tight Formations , Yannick Tambe Agbor

Investigating The Impact Of Offset Fracture Hits Using Rate Transient Analysis In The Bakken And Three Forks Formation, Divide County, North Dakota , Cody Lee Brown

The Application Of Nanoindentation Technology With Simulation On The Micromechanical Properties Of Bakken Formation , Hao Fu

Microstructures And Nanomechanical Properties Of The Bakken Shale , Kouqi Liu

A 3D Geomechanical Model Of Blue Buttes Field In Williston Basin, North Dakota , Rehan Ali Mohammed

Digital Rock Reconstruction And Property Calculation Of Fractured Shale Rock Samples , Hongsheng Wang

A Study Of Two-Phase Flow Regime And Pressure Drop In Vertical Pipe , Yanbo Wang

Analysis Of Pressure Distribution Along Pipeline Blockage Based On The Cfd Simulation , Lu Yang

Digital Rock Analysis On Berea Sandstone And An Eor Study On Middle Bakken , Barco N. Yolo

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

A Comprehensive Reservoir Characterization Of The Bakken Formation: Blue Buttes Field, Williston Basin , Alan Alexeyev

Study Of Pore-Dependent Petroleum Fluid Properties In Tight Shale Plays: Bakken Formation , Agustinus Zandy

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Study About Petrophysical And Geomechanical Properties Of Bakken Formation , Jun He

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Impact of Capillary Pressure and Critical Properties Shift Due to Confinement on Hydrocarbon Production from Shale Reservoirs

Khalid Aziz

Interest in understanding the underlying physical mysteries that result in production through liquid rich shale reservoirs, is growing globally. A swiftly expanding branch of science termed as ‘nano-fluidics’ deals with studying fluid flow in nano-spaces and often accompanies computationally expensive molecular simulations. Compositional modeling of hydraulically stimulated naturally fractured liquid-rich shale (LRS) reservoirs is a complex process that is yet to be fully understood. This work aims to explore and integrate some of the key fundamentals of confined fluid flow in nano-pores with a fully compositional reservoir simulator. Two phenomena, capillary pressure and critical property shifts, that become significant due to multiphase flow in nano-pores have been singled-out from various potential forces that arise at such small scales. LRS modelling capability of Automated Differentiation based General Purpose Research Simulator (AD-GPRS) was extended by making capillary pressure a function of pore radius. This was done by modifying vapor liquid equilibrium calculations to incorporate phase pressure differences that arise in tight pores. Using this formulation, fluid phase behavior properties were studied first using simple binary mixtures and later extended to a Bakken fluid sample. Our findings indicated that capillarity is a function of several phenomena which include pore size, fluid composition and reservoir pressure. Additionally capillary pressure was found to lead to bubble point suppression, reduction in oil density and viscosity, and increase in gas density and viscosity. Bakken fluid phase properties were found to deviate from bulk behavior up till pore radii of approximately 100 nm. The study was then extended to a realistic hydraulically fractured shale reservoir model with a horizontal producer, and cases were run using Bakken fluid model. Reinforcing the findings of fluid phase behavior observed for simpler systems, oil production showed an increase, while gas production decreased as the pores got tighter. As expected, this change in production was found to be zero when the reservoir pressure is above the fluid bubble point pressure. However, a significant difference in hydrocarbon production and recovery due to capillarity was seen when the reservoir pressure fell below the bubble point pressure. Additionally, the importance of properly characterizing fractures was found to be important as their presence reduces the influence of capillarity. Further on, since shale reservoirs can contain pores of sizes ranging from 100 nm (micropores), two realistic pore size distributions (PSD) that are typically found in shale reservoirs were explored. The differences in production showed that capillary pressure is uniquely tied to the specific PSD of the reservoir. Moving further from the impact of pore size, the impact of varying fluid composition on the impact of capillary pressure was tested next. Since, many shale reservoirs such as Eagle Ford, contain a wide spectrum of hydrocarbon fluids ranging from low GOR black oil to volatile, rich and lean gas condensates, wet gas and even dry gas, and since these fluid compositions have been shown 6 to vary spatially within the play, the findings of this work are important. Bakken fluid composition was varied by increasing the compositions of light, mid-heavy and heavy components turn by turn. It was found that the impact of capillarity varies with the initial shape of the fluid mixture phase envelope. The lower the initial critical pressure, the greater will be the impact of capillarity. In Bakken’s case, the magnitude of capillarity increased from relatively lighter compositions to mid-heavy compositions and then decreased again as the amount of heavier components was increased. Finally, the impact of confinement on critical properties was studied. Using the correlations developed using molecular simulations that have been published previously, shift in critical properties of Bakken fluid sample were computed. Both critical temperature and pressure reduced as the pore size was decreased. It was shown that this reduction is greater for heavier components. We next ran simulations using the shifted critical properties. Both oil and gas production showed an increase.

Related Topics

More publications, scale analysis of miscible density-driven convection in porous media, on modification of relative permeability in compositional simulation of near-miscible processes, chemical reaction modeling in a compositional reservoir-simulation framework.

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