The In Situ Combustion Pilot Project (ISCPP) to be carried out in the Orinoco Oil Belt (Venezuela), is a technological project leaded by PDVSA Intevep together with several organizations of PDVSA E&P San Tomé. ISCPP is oriented towards the assessment of such thermal process in the increase of recovery factors in heavy (H) and extra heavy (XH) crude oil reservoirs. Although the Orinoco Oil Belt was discovered in the 1930s, it was in the 1980s that the first rigorous evaluations were made. Recently, the area was certificated to contain 235 billions of recoverable (20% of recovery factor) barrels of heavy and extra heavy oil. The ISCPP will allow the study and development of new technologies that increase the current recovery factor in the world’s largest H/XH oil reservoir. This work covers all of disciplines considered in the project, mainly: The analysis of lab combustion tests using two kinds of cells both prepared with sand and saturated with water and XH crude oil at reservoir conditions.The static and dynamic reservoir simulations using Petrel and Star respectively.The design, construction and completion of producers, observers and air injection wells.The study, analysis and development of surface facilities and the gas treatment system and monitoring, which must have to take care of relevant quantities of contaminant gases such as SO2, H2S and CO. Based on this study, the technical and economical feasibility analyses were completed. The cold production is expected to begin during first semester of 2011, while the thermal phase involving air injection, which is the aim of the project, will be implemented throughout the second semester 2011.

Venezuela has considerable heavy oil reserves; in consequence the evaluation of the potential technologies to be applied for its exploitation is required. Heavy and extra heavy crude oil reservoirs are produced initially using its primary energy. However, depending on the viscosity the production in other reservoirs will be directly by enhanced thermal processes. One of the thermal technologies that have been studied for more than three decades worldwide is the in situ combustion process. In the last ten years the use of additives has been important to promote the upgrading of the produced oil. Combustion process with additives has shown some advantages with respect to conventional combustion: (1) oil production increases, (2) faster combustion front, and (3) higher temperatures during the combustion. The main goal in the present work is to evaluate an additive for in situ combustion process in order to enhance it. Inexpensive waste stream was used as additive for upgrading the produced crude oil. The experimental methodology used is based first; in to introduce the additive in 2/3 of the total of the porous media, then the void space into the cell is completed with porous media without additive. After, the system is preheating, following by air injection applied into the porous media during the entire combustion test. Once the combustion front will face the additive, it acquires faster velocities and the front stability was reached quicker than during conventional combustion test. The results obtained with the additive shows the production of lighter compounds. It is a promising opportunity to exploit and to produce the Venezuelan heavy crude oil reserves. In consequence, it will be possible to get oil with more value in the market.

The main challenge of the Venezuelan Oil Industry is focused in exploitation of the Orinoco Oil Belt (FPO), where potentiality are located the largest heavy oil reserves in the world. The heavy and extra heavy oil reservoirs are produced by its primary energy in some cases; in others depending on the oil viscosity enhanced oil recovery by thermal processes are applied. In Situ Combustion has been studied for more than four decade and there are reported several studies using additive in order to optimize it. However, a wide range of kind of additive has been studied and they evidence an increase of the recovery associated and upgrading to the oil produced. The present approach has been visualized as a considerable opportunity to contact a bigger zone into the reservoir and major effectiveness of the reaction promote. In that sense, PDVSA Intevep is focused on optimizing the combustion process using non-conventional additive. The methodology used is based on the air injection into the reservoir and posterior heating for ignition, where the combustion front will face with the emulsified additive promoting a series of exothermic oxidation reactions which reduce oil viscosity, due to the additional energy generated by the presence of additive in the system. The results obtained in the combustion tests, showed front stability, a considerable increase in the reactions conversion, reduction of oil viscosity, an as a consequence major oil recovery and oil value for the marketing.

The In Situ Combustion Pilot Project (ISCPP) is an ongoing testing effort aimed at assessing the efficacy of this thermal process to increasing recovery factor in the exploitation of heavy oil reservoirs from Orinoco Oil Belt (Venezuela). The process is expected to produce 3 to 7 million cubic feet/d of combustion gases, with an anticipated composition of 20% CO 2 (g) and 80% N2(g). As an option for Carbon Capture and Storage of produced CO 2 , mineral carbonation in caustic byproducts (liquor and red mud) from alumina production was assessed at lab scale. Byproducts were characterized showing pH values 12 -14 and important quantities of NaOH. Caustic liquor and red mud were exposed to gas blends (ambient pressure and temperature) with 10 and 20% CO 2 (g) in N 2 (g), as well as pure CO 2 (g), until reaching pressure stabilization into liquid-gas system. Red mud suspensions with various densities were exposed as well to gas blends during several cycles. Saturation point was reached when consumption of NaOH was completed, resulting in the precipitation of Na 2 CO 3 . Results showed that caustic mud has a CO 2 capture capacity of 7.9 kg CO 2 (g)/m 3 , or 19 kg Na 2 CO 3 /m 3 reaching pH 8.3 at carbonate equilibrium.On the other hand CO 2 capture capacity of the red mud was 87 kg CO 2 (g)/m 3 . Thermogravimetric analysis of red mud (270 -670 °C) shows less than 2% mass loss which is a good indicator of actual CO 2 sequestration. ISCPP will produce around 77000 ton CO 2 (g) in 3 years of operation, and caustic liquor from alumina process will have sufficient capacity for its complete capture. Results revealed the existence of an important sink for CO 2 (g) to be produced in Orinoco Oil Belt, which would diminish as well the hazard of caustic liquor and red mud.

SUMMARY The emulsion (water, crude and solids) remaining in W/O interface after dehydration (water removal) constitutes Slop crude. Its recovery requires more complex processes than conventional treatment of crude because it has a very stable emulsion and vast amounts of fines. In the oil industry filtration is commonly used to treat crudes with such characteristics. Shear effect, resulting from filtration of a Slop crude from west Venezuela, on emulsion stability and thereby on its dehydration was studied. Static stability tests, at laboratory scale, were conducted. They were carried out on diluted Slop crude, unfiltered and filtered with different meshes size, at different temperatures, injection of moisturizing and demulsifying products, and settling time. After treatment, water and sediment content (%W&S) was lower in unfiltered crude than in the filtered one. All unfiltered samples reached commercial specifications (<1 %W&S). The parameter studied to explain how the filtration process affects emulsion stabilization was the determination of droplet size on the Slop crude, before and after filtration. The microphotographs show that filtered samples have smaller droplet size than the unfiltered ones. Thus, evidencing that shear resulting from pressure drops and partial pluggings of meshes lead to decrease in emulsion droplet size and on increase stabilization. This decrease explains why thermochemical dehydration of unfiltered samples is more effective than that of filtered samples. Based on these results, it was concluded that solid separation through filtration, prior to thermochemical treatment, is negative to dehydrate the studied Slop crude because a decrease of droplet size on the dispersed phase is produced, there by stabilizing emulsion even more. INTRODUCTION Generally, oil is produced along with free and emulsified formation water, specially water in oil (W/O) emulsion and fines. The stability of these emulsions is caused by surfactants naturally present in the crude and produced fines 1. Crude, water and solids separation process, necessary to achieve less than 1 %W&S, is known as crude dehydration. During this process three different layers can be obtained:the free water crude,an intermediate layer (interface) made out of the emulsion between water, crude, and solids located in such interface, andthe water and solids separated at the bottom 2. The intermediate layer is named interface crude or Slop crude and, generally, its recovery requires more complex processes than conventional crude treatment 3. The studied Slop crude is made out of the mixture of the dehydration process interfaces of different segregations treated in western Venezuela, one crude coming from the water clarification process and one crude that had remained in disposal for several years 3. It is important to emphasize that the crude Slop treatment is difficult not only because of the emulsified crudes from different segregations, with different characteristics and physicochemical properties, but because of the large time that this crude had been stored, without treatment, exposed to oxidation and polymerization processes, which had contributed to form a very stable emulsion between water in crude (W/O)1,3. This study was carried out due to the great amount of Slop crude stocks and to the difficulty for its treatment, as well as to know filtration effect on the stabilization of W/O emulsion present on such crude and its influence in the treatment allowing dehydrating it and recovering the crude present in the emulsion 3.