A Calibrated Model for the Carbonate-Brine-Crude Oil Surface Chemistry and its Effect on the Rock Wettability, Dissolution, and Mechanical Properties

Abstract

We suggest two new thermodynamic models for the adsorption of ions to the brine/carbonate and brine/crude oil interface. We calibrate the model parameters to the ionic adsorption and zeta potential data. We then investigate the effect of the rock and oil surface charges on the dissolution, wettability alteration, and mechanical properties of the carbonates in the context of modified-salinity water flooding in the North Sea chalk reservoirs. We modify a charge-distribution multi-site complexation (CD-MUSIC) model and optimize its parameters by fitting the model to a large data set of calcite surface zeta potential in presence of different brine compositions. We also modify and optimize a diffuse layer model for the oil/brine interface. We then use the optimized surface complexation models with a finite-volume solver to model the two phase reactive transport of oil and brine in a chalk reservoir, including the impact of dissolution, polar-group adsorption, and compaction on the relative permeability of chalk to water and oil. We compare the simulation results with the published experimental data.