A Comparative Laboratory Analysis of Steamflooding With Horizontal Wells In Heavy Oil Reservoirs With Bottom Water Zone

1999 ◽  
Vol 38 (13) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Bagci ◽  
T. Aybak ◽  
A. Shamsul
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Oil ◽  
Bottom Water ◽  
Horizontal Wells ◽  
Laboratory Analysis ◽  
Oil Reservoirs ◽  
Water Zone ◽  
Heavy Oil Reservoirs

Pressure Maintenance and Improving Oil Recovery by Means of Immiscible Water-Alternating-CO2 Processes in Thin Heavy-Oil Reservoirs

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (01) ◽  
pp. 60-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sixu Zheng ◽  
Daoyong Yang
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Heavy Oil ◽  
Oil Production ◽  
Horizontal Wells ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Oil Reservoirs ◽  
Oil Saturation ◽  
Water Alternating Gas ◽  
Heavy Oil Reservoirs ◽  
Water Cut

Summary Techniques have been developed to experimentally and numerically evaluate performance of water-alternating-CO2 processes in thin heavy-oil reservoirs for pressure maintenance and improving oil recovery. Experimentally, a 3D physical model consisting of three horizontal wells and five vertical wells is used to evaluate the performance of water-alternating-CO2 processes. Two well configurations have been designed to examine their effects on heavy-oil recovery. The corresponding initial oil saturation, oil-production rate, water cut, oil recovery, and residual-oil-saturation (ROS) distribution are examined under various operating conditions. Subsequently, numerical simulation is performed to match the experimental measurements and optimize the operating parameters (e.g., slug size and water/CO2 ratio). The incremental oil recoveries of 12.4 and 8.9% through three water-alternating-CO2 cycles are experimentally achieved for the aforementioned two well configurations, respectively. The excellent agreement between the measured and simulated cumulative oil production indicates that the displacement mechanisms governing water-alternating-CO2 processes have been numerically simulated and matched. It has been shown that water-alternating-CO2 processes implemented with horizontal wells can be optimized to significantly improve performance of pressure maintenance and oil recovery in thin heavy-oil reservoirs. Although well configuration imposes a dominant impact on oil recovery, the water-alternating-gas (WAG) ratios of 0.75 and 1.00 are found to be the optimum values for Scenarios 1 and 2, respectively.

A Study to Prevent Bottom Water From Coning in Heavy-Oil Reservoirs: Design and Simulation Approaches

2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Binshan Ju ◽  
Xiaofeng Qiu ◽  
Shugao Dai ◽  
Tailiang Fan ◽  
Haiqing Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Oil ◽  
Bottom Water ◽  
Horizontal Wells ◽  
Oil Well ◽  
Vertical Wells ◽  
Water Contact ◽  
Water Columns ◽  
Heavy Oil Reservoirs ◽  
Oil Water ◽  
Downhole Water Sink

The coning problems for vertical wells and the ridging problems for horizontal wells are very difficult to solve by conventional methods during oil production from reservoirs with bottom water drives. If oil in a reservoir is too heavy to follow Darcy’s law, the problems may become more complicated for the non-Newtonian properties of heavy oil and its rheology. To solve these problems, an innovative completion design with downhole water sink was presented by dual-completion in oil and water columns with a packer separating the two completions for vertical wells or dual-horizontal wells. The design made it feasible that oil is produced from the formation above the oil water contact (OWC) and water is produced from the formation below the OWC, respectively. To predict quantitatively the production performances of production well using the completion design, a new improved mathematical model considering non-Newtonian properties of oil was presented and a numerical simulator was developed. A series of runs of an oil well was employed to find out the best perforation segment and the fittest production rates from the formations above and below OWC. The study shows that the design is effective for heavy oil reservoir with bottom water though it cannot completely eliminate the water cone formed before using the design. It is a discovery that the design is more favorable for new wells and the best perforation site for water sink (Sink 2) is located at the upper 1/3 of the formation below OWC.

scholarly journals Downhole electric heating of heavy-oil wells

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-72
Author(s):  
John Karanikas ◽  
Guillermo Pastor ◽  
Scott Penny
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Oil ◽  
Horizontal Wells ◽  
Electric Heating ◽  
Optimization Method ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Production Optimization ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Oil Reservoirs ◽  
Oil Well ◽  
Heavy Oil Reservoirs

Downhole electric heating has historically been unreliable or limited to short, often vertical, well sections. Technology improvements over the past several years now allow for reliable, long length, relatively high-powered, downhole electric heating suitable for extended-reach horizontal wells. The application of this downhole electric heating technology in a horizontal cold-producing heavy oil well in Alberta, Canada is presented in this paper. The field case demonstrates the benefits and efficacy of applying downhole electric heating, especially if it is applied early in the production life of the well. Early production data showed 4X-6X higher oil rates from the heated well than from a cold-producing benchmark well in the same reservoir. In fact, after a few weeks of operation, it was no longer possible to operate the benchmark well in pure cold-production mode as it watered out, whereas the heated well has been producing for twenty (20) months without any increase in water rate. The energy ratio, defined as the heating value of the incremental produced oil to the injected heat, is over 20.0, resulting in a carbon-dioxide footprint of less than 40 kgCO2/bbl, which is lower than the greenhouse gas intensity of the average crude oil consumed in the US. A numerical simulation model that includes reactions that account for the foamy nature of the produced oil and the downhole injection of heat, has been developed and calibrated against field data.  The model can be used to prescribe the range of optimal reservoir and fluid properties to select the most promising targets (fields, wells) for downhole electric heating as a production optimization method. The same model can also be used during the execution of the project to explore optimal operating conditions and operating procedures. Downhole electric heating in long horizontal wells is now a commercially available technology that can be reliably applied as a production optimization recovery scheme in heavy oil reservoirs. Understanding the optimum reservoir conditions where the application of downhole electric heating maximizes economic benefits will assist in identifying areas of opportunity to meaningfully increase reserves and production in heavy oil reservoirs around the world.

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