AN EFFICIENT NUMERICAL METHOD FOR HIGH-RESOLUTION FLUID TRACKING IN OIL RECOVERY PROCESSES-

IF THE RELEVANT RESERVOIR PARAMETERS WERE KNOWN PRECISELY, THEN ONE COULD SIMULATE THE ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY PROCESSES NUMERICALLY ON A COMPUTER TO TRACK THE INJECTED FLUIDS; UNFORTUNATELY, THIS IS NOT TRUE IN PRACTICE. HENCE THE ABILITY TO IDENTIFY THESE RESERVOIR PARAMETERS FROM THE PRESSURE AND/OR SATURATION MEASUREMENTS AT THE SPARSELY LOCATED EXISTING OB- SERVATION WELLS BECOMES NECESSARY PRIOR TO THE RESERVOIR SIMULATION. THE IDENTIFICATION CAN BE ACHIEVED BY EXTENDING THE PROVEN ITERATIVE NUMERICAL ALGORITHM, THE GENERALIZED PULSE-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUE (GPST). IN PHASE I, GPST WILL BE USED TO IDENTIFY THE UNKNOWN RESERVOIR PARAMETERS FROM THE PRESSURE AND/OR SATURATION MEASUREMENTS AT THOSE SPARSELY LOCATED OBSERVATION WELLS IN A TWO-DIMENSIONAL AND TWO-PHASE FLOW RESERVOIR MODEL AND TO TRACK THE INJECTED FLUID EVERYWHERE IN THE RESERVOIR ACCURATELY. IN PHASE II, GPST WILL BE FURTHER GENERALIZED AND MADE SUPER-EFFICIENT BY TAKING ADVANTAGE OF PARRALLELISM, VECTORIZATION, ADAPTIVE GRIDS, DOMAIN DECOMPOSITION, ETC., TO IDENTIFY THE UNKNOWN RESERVOIR PARAMETERS FROM THE PRESSURE AND/OR SATURATION MEASUREMENTS AT THOSE SPARSELY LOCATED OBSERVATION WELLS IN A THREE-DIMENSIONAL AND THREE-PHASE FLOW RESERVOIR MODEL AND TO TRACK THE INJECTED FLUIDS EVERY- WHERE IN THE RESERVOIR ACCURATELY.