Threshold pressure gradient of fluid flow through multi-porous media in low and extra-low permeability reservoirs

After analyzing many studies of fluid flow theory of multi-porous media in low and extra-low permeability reservoirs and the numerical simulation of non-Darcy flow, we found that a negative flow rate occurs in the existing non-Darcy flow equation, which is unreasonable. We believe that the existing equation can only be considered as a discriminant to judging Darcy flow or non-Darcy flow, and cannot be taken as a fluid flow governing equation of multi-porous media. Our analysis of the experimental results shows that the threshold pressure gradient (TPG) of low and extra-low permeability reservoirs is excessively high, and does not conform to fluid flow through multi-porous media in the actual reservoir situation. Therefore, we present a reasonable TPG ranging from 0.006 to 0.04 MPa/m at the well depth of 1500 m and oil drainage distance of 500 m. The results of our study also indicate that the non-Darcy flow phenomenon will disappear when the TPG reaches a certain value. In addition, the TPG or non-Darcy flow in low and extra-low permeability reservoirs does not need to be considered in the productivity prediction and reservoir numerical simulation. At present, the black oil model or dual-porous media is suitable for simulating low and extra-low permeability reservoirs.