The impact of geological heterogeneity on horizontal well-triplet performance in CO2-circulated geothermal reservoirs

CO2 circulated geothermal production can be integrated with geological sequestration as a utilization method to offset cost. Investigation of heterogeneity impact is limited and its effect on circulation associated heat recovery unclear. This study aimed improve the understanding this problem by numerical experiments. A set spatially correlated heterogeneous porosity fields generated using variety geostatistical parameters, i.e., variance, correlation lengths, anisotropy azimuth. Heterogeneous intrinsic permeability initial/residual water saturation are derived from equations regressed field dataset. Twenty combinations injection pressure well space obtained Latin-Hypercube sampling deployed in each field, generating suite reservoir models. Performance indicators, including lifespan, net stored , produced flux, total recovered energy calculated model simulation. The simulation results suggest that geologic could develop high-permeable flow paths, causing bypass hot low-permeable zones, shortened lifespan reduced energy. Depending azimuth, create either barriers or preferential increasing decreasing sweeping efficiency. relative angle between horizontal wells axis maximum continuity optimized maximize These finds provide useful insights interplay heterogeneity, placement operation production. Cited as: Chen, M., Al-Saidi, A., Al-Maktoumi, Izady, A. well-triplet performance CO2-circulated reservoirs. Advances Geo-Energy Research, 2022, 6(3): 192-205. https://doi.org/10.46690/ager.2022.03.03