Development of a Thermal Wellbore Simulator With Focus on Improving Heat Loss Calculations for SAGD Steam Injection

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wanqiang Xiong ◽  
Mehdi Bahonar ◽  
Zhangxin Chen
Keyword(s):  
Heat Loss ◽  
Steam Injection

Effect of Confinement and Well Interference on SAGD Performance: An Analytical Assessment

SPE Journal ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (04) ◽  
pp. 1595-1612
Author(s):  
Zeinab Zargar ◽  
S. M. Farouq Ali
Keyword(s):  
Heat Loss ◽  
Moving Boundary ◽  
Steam Injection ◽  
Injection Rate ◽  
Unsteady Temperature ◽  
Steam Chamber ◽  
Heat Loss Rate ◽  
Well Spacing ◽  
Interface Length ◽  
First Time

Summary In this paper, we introduce, for the first time, an analytical approach for evaluating the effect of confinement and well interference on the SAGD process and achieving a better understanding of the situation. In the well-confinement stage of SAGD, there is adjacent-chamber interference, the effective head of drainage decreases, and the heat-loss rate decreases or, in a conservative design, remains constant. Our objectives were to predict the oil-production rate, steam-injection rate, thermal efficiency, steam-chamber velocity, unsteady temperature profile, heat distribution, and the cumulative steam/oil ratio (CSOR). In this approach, heat transfer was coupled with fluid flow. The governing equations were Darcy's law, volumetric balance, and heat conduction—constitutive equations indicating the temperature dependence of some physical properties. Our model was developed on the basis of a moving-boundary problem. The predicted oil rate remained constant during the sideways-expansion phase, while the steam-injection rate had to be constantly increased. After a determined confinement time, the oil rate started to decline with time because the decreasing steam-chamber interface length was offset by a decreasing head. The unsteady temperature profiles from the model showed that lower temperatures were predicted ahead of the interface owing to the confinement effect. Also, the model showed that, for a small lateral well spacing, confinement occurred earlier and heat loss started decreasing sooner, resulting in a lower CSOR than for a large spacing. It was shown that, even though the oil rate declined faster in a confined model rather than in an unconfined model, the reservoir depleted faster, just like the angle between the steam-chamber interface and the horizon. The results were validated using experimental data reported in the literature.

Laboratory Tests on Heavy Oil Recovery by Steam Injection

1983 ◽  
Vol 23 (03) ◽  
pp. 417-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip J. Closmann ◽  
Richard D. Seba
Keyword(s):  
Pore Size ◽  
Heat Loss ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Heavy Oil ◽  
Steam Injection ◽  
Residual Oil ◽  
Oil Saturation ◽  
Residual Oil Saturation ◽  
The Core ◽  
Unconsolidated Sand

Abstract This paper presents results of laboratory experiments conducted to determine the effect of various parameters on residual oil saturation from steamdrives of heavy-oil reservoirs. These experiments indicated that remaining oil saturation, both at steam breakthrough and after passage of several PV of steam, is a function of oil/water viscosity ratio at saturated steam conditions. Introduction Considerable attention has been given to thermal techniques for stimulating production of underground hydrocarbons, particularly the more viscous oils production of underground hydrocarbons, particularly the more viscous oils and tars. Steam injection has been studied as one means of heating oil in place, reducing its viscosity, and thus making its displacement easier. place, reducing its viscosity, and thus making its displacement easier. A number of investigators have measured residual oil saturations remaining in the steam zone. Willman et al. also analyzed the steam displacement process to account for the oil recoveries observed. A number of methods have been developed to calculate the size of the steam zone and to predict oil recoveries by application of Buckley-Leverett theory, including the use of numerical simulation. The work described here was devoted to an experimental determination of oil recovery by steam injection in linear systems. The experiments were unscaled as far as fluid flow rates, gravity forces, and heat losses were concerned. Part of the study was to determine recoveries of naturally occurring very viscous tars in a suite of cores containing their original oil saturation. The cores numbered 95, 140, and 143 are a part of this group. Heterogeneities in these cores, however, led to the extension of the work to more uniform systems, such as sandpacks and Dalton sandstone cores. Our interest was in obtaining an overall view of important variables that affected recovery. In particular, because of the significant effect of steam distillation, most of the oils used in this study were chosen to avoid this factor. We also studied the effect of pore size on the residual oil saturation. As part of this work, we investigated the effect of the amount of water flushed through the system ahead of the steam front in several ways:the production rate was varied by a factor of four,the initial oil saturation was varied by a factor of two, andthe rate of heat loss was varied by removing the heat insulation from the flow system. Description of Apparatus and Experimental Technique Two types of systems were studied: unconsolidated sand and consolidated sandstone. The former type was provided by packing a section of pipe with 50–70 mesh Ottawa sand. Most runs on this type of system were in an 18-in. (45.72-cm) section of 1 1/2 -in. (3.8 1 -cm) diameter pipe, although runs on 6-in. (15.24-cm) and 5-ft (152.4-cm) lengths were also included. Consolidated cores 9 to 13 in. (22.86 to 33.02 cm) long and approximately 2 1/4 in. (5.72 cm) in diameter were sealed in a piece of metal pipe by means of an Epon/sand mixture. A photograph of two 9-in. (22.86-cm) consolidated natural cores (marked 95 and 143) from southwest Missouri, containing original oil, is shown as Fig. 1. In all steamdrive runs, the core was thermally insulated to reduce heat loss, unless the effect of heat loss was specifically being studied. Flow was usually horizontal except for the runs in which the effects of flushing water volume and of unconsolidated-sand pore size were examined. Micalex end pieces were used on the inlet end in initial experiments with consolidated cores to reduce heat leakage from the steam line to the metal jacket on the outside of the core. During most runs, however, the entire input assembly eventually became hot. SPEJ p. 417

Study on the effect of wellbore heat capacity on steam injection well heat loss

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 763-769 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong-Le Nian ◽  
Wen-Long Cheng ◽  
Tong-Tong Li ◽  
Chang-Long Wang
Keyword(s):  
Heat Capacity ◽  
Heat Loss ◽  
Steam Injection ◽  
Injection Well

Development of a Thermal Wellbore Simulator With Focus on Improving Heat-Loss Calculations for Steam-Assisted-Gravity-Drainage Steam Injection

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (02) ◽  
pp. 305-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wanqiang Xiong ◽  
Mehdi Bahonar ◽  
Zhangxin Chen
Keyword(s):  
Heat Loss ◽  
Steam Injection ◽  
Loss Estimation ◽  
Gravity Drainage ◽  
Thermal Processes ◽  
Injection Wells ◽  
Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage ◽  
Cfd Models ◽  
Fully Implicit ◽  
Loss Modeling

Summary Typical thermal processes involve sophisticated wellbore configurations, complex fluid flow, and heat transfer in tubing, annulus, wellbore completion, and surrounding formation. Despite notable advancements made in wellbore modeling, accurate heat-loss modeling is still a challenge by use of the existing wellbore simulators. This challenge becomes even greater when complex but common wellbore configurations, such as multiparallel or multiconcentric tubings, are used in thermal processes such as steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD). To improve heat-loss estimation, a standalone fully implicit thermal wellbore simulator is developed that can handle several different wellbore configurations and completions. This simulator uses a fully implicit method to model heat loss from tubing walls to the surrounding formation. Instead of implementing the common Ramey (1962) method for heat-loss calculations, which has been shown to be a source of large errors, a series of computational-fluid-dynamics (CFD) models are run for the buoyancy-driven flow for different annulus sizes and lengths and numbers of tubings. On the basis of these CFD models, correlations are derived that can conveniently be used for the more-accurate heat-loss estimation from the wellbore to the surrounding formation for SAGD injection wells with single or multiple tubing strings. These correlations are embedded in the developed wellbore simulator, and results are compared with other heat-loss-modeling methods to demonstrate its improvements. A series of validations against commercial simulators and field data are presented in this paper.

Optimized Design and Research on Technology Parameters of Concentric Dual-Tube Steam Injection Horizontal Well

2014 ◽  
Vol 675-677 ◽  
pp. 1505-1511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Qin Liu ◽  
Zai Hong Shi ◽  
Jing Zhu ◽  
Zhen Ma
Keyword(s):  
Physical Model ◽  
Heat Loss ◽  
Heavy Oil ◽  
Horizontal Well ◽  
Horizontal Wells ◽  
Steam Injection ◽  
Injection Technique ◽  
Optimized Design ◽  
Calculation Methods ◽  
Liaohe Oilfield

The screen pipe completion is the predominated method for heavy oil horizontal well in Liaohe Oilfield, accounting for 83.4% of the total completions. General steam injection has been used for the horizontal wells, resulting in a better exploitation percentage in heel part but a poorer exploitation percentage beyond 1/3 of the distance from the tiptoe to heel in horizontal well. As the concentric dual-tube steam injection technique for horizontal well has just been developed in Liaohe Oilfield, the related supporting technique is not enough. In this paper, researchers consider achieving horizontal wells concentric dual-tube steam injection optimized design as main goal so that the physical model will be established, and also the calculation methods for pressure, the calculation models for quality, heat loss and tapered string parameters along the wellbore will be provided during the concentric dual-tube steam injection for horizontal wells.

Modeling Tundish Heat Loss Under Different Slag Behaviors With Gas Bubbling

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Chang ◽  
R. Guthrie ◽  
B. Li ◽  
L. Zhong ◽  
Z. Zou
Keyword(s):  
Heat Loss ◽  
Gas Bubbling
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