Modified Method of Characteristics for Generating EOR Oil Recovery Curves

Abstract

The paper describes a fast and approximate 1D simulation algorithm for calculating the percent recovery that can be obtained from an oil reservoir if gas injection is carried out at a pressure lower than the minimum miscibility pressure. The algorithm is based on the Method of Characteristics. While a conventional 1D reservoir simulation of a gas injection scenario may take minutes or even hours, the proposed algorithm allows a full evaluation of the recovery to be completed within seconds. To make the method numerically robust, a number of approximations were needed. The result is an extremely fast algorithm that not only provides a good estimate of the recovery obtained by gas injection, but also gives a good visualization of how the gas displaces the oil.