This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. This report has been reproduced directly from the best available copy.

ltw Wr WI: w+nlrn II w Mm AwI hN TtOhMtJlCwwriw m htwuonol IM Sc# al Pwwrn Efw+w o!AIML MM m Lu VW NwMI, B$ptomt+f23.26. !970. Tt# nwtorulII wOIWI 10cwcoon by IM i iumof Pofmittonhwwlttaw*l9mt0tltMolmtmwMWwrdt.Wt*~.C4nlfUOW.CWlDItTmU76ttW iBSTIACT combustion fronts from wel12P2 to wells 2PI and A field in eitu combustion teat on a Utah tar 2P3. Upon breakthrough of the fronts, injection was to be switched to wells 211, 212~213, 214, 215, and and featuring reverse combustion followed by for-216 co draw two broad conbuation fronts along the rard cornbuetion wae eimulated with a two-diuwnaional chematical d.mulator, The model, provided anawere pattern, wells 2P1 and 2P3 being converted to production to help achieve thie purpose, Upon arrival :0 come operating problems and 6ave indicatlona for improving such a teet in the futura, of the reveree combustion fronts at the 211-212-213 and 214-215-2X6 lines the injection rates were to be increaeed to help the front "echo" into a forward [INTRODUCTION , combustion mode, The forward couibuation front wae From August 1977 through February 1978 the then to be propagated back to the center line of Larauiie Energy Technology Center (LETC) -Of the wells in the ltne drive pattern.United Statee Department of Energy conducted an Welle numbered 201 thrOugh 2014 were drilled as in situ combustion field teet, designated LETC1 M-2C, on a tar eand depoelt near Vernal~Utah , A observation welle to mesaure bottom hole temperature) preaeurees and compoeitione durins the exmathernatical modal study waa aubaequently conducted perlaaent, Before the teet began, air rate and co match the performance of thie teet to help intertracer testing wae conducted within the pattern aa pret the effects of field parameter and operatin8 deecribed in Ref. 1 with the result of a directional procedure upon the teat and anewer certain queatione chat aroee about the teet and thue help refine the permeability or channel beinfg identified, particu-deE18n and operation of any poaeible future teato, larly strongly between wella 212 and 2PI but alao between other paira and 8enerally trending in a SW to NE direction, The teatin8, however, only ex-The etudy wae conducted uo$ng a multi-dimenamined connectivity of Injactora with producer e~ca, eional in eitu combustion model , to attempt to and not with other injectore, All wells were cored calculate the field performance uein8 the normal history matchin8 procedure, S4nce the model was with permeabllity~poroaity~and aaturatione determined on each core, llmited to about 120 8rid blocks by computer etora8e size, it was felt that meet of the queetiono poeedThe combustion taat waa oparated 8enerally aa could be anewered by modeling only a port$on of the experiment to allow finer definition of the reaer-planned, but unforaeen circumsttmcee ctwed the four voir, The northweec quadrant (boundad by wellrn 2Xl-quadranta of the pattern to re@pond differently to 212-2P1-2P2,) (Fig, 1) wae chosen ac the b~nt can- injection,Temperature reapomee were obmerved and didata for the emulati...

Johnson Jr., Lyle A., SPE, Laramie Energy Technology Center, U.S.DOE Fahy, L. John, SPE, Laramie Energy Technology Center, U.S.DOE Romanowski Jr., Leo J., SPE, Laramie Energy Technology Center, U.S.DOE Thomas, Kenneth P., Laramie Energy Technology Center, U.S.DOE Hutchinson, Harold L., SPE, U. of Wyoming Summary The first U.S. DOE Laramie Energy Technology Center (LETC) steamflood experiment in a Utah tar sand, LETC TS-1S was conducted in the Northwest Asphalt Ridge deposit near Vernal, UT. Steam was injected into the center well of two concentric inverted five-spot patterns. The zone chosen for the experiment was a sandstone 45 ft (14 m) thick in the Rimrock member of the Mesaverde formation. The pattern area was 0.25 acres (1012 M2) and contained a 13 degrees API (979 kg/m) bitumen with a viscosity greater than 10 Cp (10 Pa.s) at reservoir conditions. The average oil saturation was 78.9% PV. During 160 days of operation, 65,700 bbl (10.4 × 10 m) of water-equivalent steam were injected at 360 to 530 psig (2.5 to 3.7 MPa) and 180 to 650 B/D (29 to 103 m /d). Total production during the test amounted to 1,150 bbl (183 m) of oil and 6,250 bbl (994 M) of water. Introduction LETC has been working toward development of U.S. tar sands since 1973. To date LETC has conducted several laboratory studies and three field tests of the technical feasibility of in-situ thermal processing of Utah tar sand. The first two field tests, LERC TS-1C and LERC TS-2C, were conducted in 1975 and 1977-78 to test the technical feasibility of the reverse combustion process and a combination reverse/forward combustion process, respectively. Results of these laboratory and field tests have been reported in several publications. The third field test (LETC TS-1S conducted during 1980) tested the technical feasibility of steamflooding a tar sand formation; it is the basis for this paper. LETC TS-1S steamflood began April 23, 1980, and ended Sept 29, 1980. During 160 days of operation, 65,700 bbl (10.4 × 10 m) of water-equivalent steam were injected into the 45-ft (14-m) thick, 500-ft (152-m) deep tar sand zone. During the operational period, 1,150 bbl (183 m) of oil and 6,250 bbl (994 m) of water were produced. Experimental Plan The objectives of LETC's first steam in-situ recovery experiment were (1) to determine the technical and economic feasibility of using a steamflood as an in-situ recovery technique in a Utah tar sand deposit, (2) to evaluate an injection well completion scheme with a high-temperature packer, (3) to evaluate several types of downhole completion schemes for the production wells, and (4) to determine recycle and fuel use possibilities for produced water and oil. Design of LETC TS-1S was based on core analysis, data from a small two-well steam injection test, laboratory studies, a literature survey, and computer modeling. The pattern was two concentric inverted five-spot patterns (Fig. 1). The outer four producers (Wells 3P1 through 3P4) were on the perimeter of 0.25 acres (1012 m), while the inner four producers (Wells 3PS through 3P8) bounded 0.1 acres (405 m2). Monitor Wells 3M1 through 3M4 were spaced at approximately half the spacing of the 0.1-acre (405-m2) pattern. On the basis of preliminary computer modeling results, the 0.25-acre (1012-m2) and 0.1-acre (405-m2) areas represented the best estimates of the maximum and minimum areal sweeps expected during the desired 120-day test period. Test Zone Description The major source of tar sand on Northwest Asphalt Ridge is the Rimrock sandstone member of the Cretaceous Mesaverde formation. The Rimrock is a highly saturated, semiconsolidated, fine-grained sand- stone interrupted by many low-saturated siltstone or shale intervals that vary in thickness from less than 1 in. (2.54 cm) to more than 10 ft (3 m). JPT P. 1119^

No abstract

No abstract