Real-Time Down-Hole Monitoring of Gas Injection Profile Using Fibre-Optic Distribute Temperature and Acoustic Sensing in Tarim

Abstract Gas injection has become an important means of enhancing oil recovery (EOR) in clastic reservoirs, the Donghe Oilfield, Tarim, has been undergoing gas injection to enhanced oil recovery. During the gas injection, dynamic justification of gas injection was the most severe challenges, which needed to monitor the pressure profile, temperature profile and gas injection profile. Therefore, monitoring gas injection profile has becoming an important part of gas drive reservoirs. Donghe Oilfield was characterized by ultra-deep (>6000m), high temperature (>140°C) and high content of carbon dioxide, conventional manometer and thermometer cannot meet the downhole condition of ultra-deep and high temperature. To continuously monitor gas injection well, permanent fibre-optic surveillance technique featured with outstanding conformance, nice corrosion resistance and long-life span was developed, and a program was developed to use real-time fiber-optic Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) and Distributed Acoustic sensing (DAS) to identify the gas injection profile (gas channeling). Monitoring principle and system assembly of the fibre-optic was demonstrated in detail, the DTS utilized Joule - Thompson cooling principle as the gas injected into formation through screen pipe, while the DAS captured the amplitude and frequency of acoustics from the gas flow. DTS and DAS data obtained at the same time by using fiber wireline outside the gas injection string during gas injection. There was a field application in gas injection well of DH1-H3 and gas injection profiles derived from DTS and DAS had the extremely high consistency to radioactive tracer profiles run at about the same time and under similar injection rates and pressure. The success of the fibre-optic surveillance in DH1-H3 exhibited great potential of fiber-optic sensing in gas injection EOR projects, which could provide a new and effective tool in identifying gas channeling.