Experimental research on inter-fracture asynchronous injection-production cycle for a horizontal well in a tight oil reservoir

One of the existing tight oil reservoir development methods is development after hydraulic fracturing of horizontal wells. This type of development method severely limits the recovery rate of tight oil reservoirs. The other conventional enhanced oil recovery methods are not suitable for tight oil reservoirs. The water injection performance of fractured vertical wells is poor, and water breakthrough easily occurs during water injection in horizontal wells. In order to improve the recovery factor of tight oil reservoirs and to achieve sustainable development of tight oil reservoirs, finding a suitable method of enhancing the recovery factor of tight oil reservoirs is the top priority. Based on the concept of periodic asynchronous water flooding to supplement energy between horizontal fractures, in this paper, an effective method of improving the recovery rate of tight oil reservoirs is discussed. Physical simulation experiments were designed to improve the recovery efficiency of horizontal wells with an inter-fracture asynchronous injection-production cycle (IFAIPC). The feasibility of the method was verified. Two different sets of experiments were designed: 1) the experiment that simulates a homogeneous reservoir with a section with two fractures (M1), and 2) an experiment that simulates a heterogeneous reservoir with three sections of four fractures (M2) and the fourth section with five fractures (M3). The results show that during the IFAIPC process, the permeability of the rock sample tends to decrease gradually. In particular, in the first five cycles, the permeability decreases significantly. Water injection becomes difficult as the permeability decreases, and there is a feasible critical value for water injection. In homogeneous reservoirs, water breakthrough is slow. The degree of recovery and the ultimate recovery rate before water breakthrough are high. The use of IFAIPC in heterogeneous reservoirs can effectively increase the swept volume and delay the rise of water saturation. The IFAIPC method can effectively improve the recovery of tight oil reservoirs by more than 10% in the first five injection-production cycles. The experiments confirm the feasibility and effectiveness of using the IFAIPC method in tight oil reservoirs.