Stress sensitivity of formation during multi-cycle gas injection and production in an underground gas storage rebuilt from gas reservoirs

Permeability sensitivity to stress experiments were conducted on standard core samples taken from Wen 23 Gas Storage at multi-cycle injection and production conditions of the gas storage to study the change pattern of stress sensitivity of permeability. A method for calculating permeability under overburden pressure in the multi-cycle injection and production process was proposed, and the effect of stress sensitivity of reservoir permeability on gas well injectivity and productivity in UGS was analyzed. Retention rate of permeability decreased sharply first and then slowly with the increase of the UGS cycles. The stress sensitivity index of permeability decreased with the increase of cycle number of net stress variations in the increase process of net stress. The stress sensitivity index of permeability hardly changed with the increase of cycle number of net stress variations in the decrease process of net stress. With the increase of cycle number of net stress variation, the stress sensitivity index of permeability in the increase process of net stress approached that in the decrease process of net stress. The lower the reservoir permeability, the greater the irreversible permeability loss rate, the stronger the cyclic stress sensitivity, and the higher the stress sensitivity index of the reservoir, the stronger the reservoir stress sensitivity. The gas zones with permeability lower than 0.3.10-3.m(2) are not suitable as gas storage regions. Stress sensitivity of reservoir permeability has strong impact on gas well injectivity and productivity and mainly in the first few cycles.

Automated summary

The stress sensitivity of permeability in UGS reservoirs can significantly affect gas well injectivity and productivity, especially in the first few cycles. As the cycle number increases, the stress sensitivity index of permeability changes with the net stress variations in both the increase and decrease processes.