Effects of Wormhole Configurations on Performance of Cyclic Solvent Injection in Heavy Oil Systems

David, Nathan Abraham; Torabi, Farshid

doi:10.1007/s11053-018-9434-z

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Therefore, extraction of heavier components is more challenging, especially in the later cycles. 100 1.2.5. Production under Wormhole Support.…”

Section: Dominant Mechanisms In Bitumenmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, the remaining oil will be more viscous and difficult to produce . In this regard, the extraction mechanism in heavy oil and bitumen systems is less significant than that in the light oil . Athar et al evaluated the nonequilibrium interactions between propane and heavy oil using a visualization cell. , Based on their observations, propane may be mixed with bitumen as a result of extracting and draining flows.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ahadi and Torabi suggested that for a multiple-cycle CSI, the contribution of the extraction mechanism in heavy oil recovery is lower for the subsequent cycles. Therefore, extraction of heavier components is more challenging, especially in the later cycles …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Propane–Bitumen Interactions during Cyclic Solvent Injection─A Cold Lake Case Study

et al. 2023

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Common bitumen recovery processes, such as steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) and vapor extraction (VAPEX), are not suitable for thin reservoirs due to the heavy consumption of water and heat and the lack of a gravity drainage mechanism. As an alternative, cyclic solvent injection (CSI) at low temperatures has been developed as a more sustainable and energyefficient technique for bitumen recovery from oil-sand reservoirs. This study aims to conduct specific CSI experiments to address the following questions: (1) How does the propane phase affect bitumen recovery? (2) What mechanisms control bitumen recovery at different propane phases? We synthesized core plugs from in situ oil-sand and bitumen samples of the Clearwater Formation at Cold Lake. Three CSI experiments were conducted by liquid propane (C 3,L ), two-phase propane (C 3,V−L ), and vapor propane (C 3,V ) in a state-of-the-art visualization cell equipped with a camera and a digital pressure transducer. We calculated the bitumen recovery factor (RF b ) by the weight-balance method and analyzed the pressure profiles and images from the core face during the three experiments. The results show that RF b by C 3,V is higher than that by C 3,L . In addition, we observed that when CSI is conducted by C 3,L , the core face is plugged by asphaltene deposition. Furthermore, in CSI by C 3,L , limited bitumen recovery occurs when pressure is dropped below the saturation pressure of propane during depletion. The results also suggest that the combination of asphaltene deposition, solution gas drive, oil extraction, and production under wormhole support are the mechanisms controlling bitumen recovery from oil-sand cores.

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“…Therefore, extraction of heavier components is more challenging, especially in the later cycles. 100 1.2.5. Production under Wormhole Support.…”

Section: Dominant Mechanisms In Bitumenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Propane–Bitumen Interactions during Cyclic Solvent Injection─A Cold Lake Case Study

et al. 2023

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Comprehensive investigation of non-equilibrium properties of foamy oil induced by different types of gases

Sun

Cai

Zhang

et al. 2022

Fuel

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Characterization of Dynamic Wormhole Growth and Propagation During CHOPS Processes by Integrating Rate Transient Analysis and Pressure-Gradient-Based Sand Failure Criterion

Jiang

Liu

et al. 2022

Day 2 Thu, March 17, 2022

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In this work, theoretical models have been formulated, validated, and applied to characterize the dynamic wormhole growth and propagation dynamics during CHOPS processes by integrating rate transient analysis (RTA) and a pressure-gradient-based (PGB) sand failure criterion. More specifically, a coupling fluid-solid flow model is proposed by incorporating the recently proposed PGB sand failure criterion with sand production. Then, the source function method is applied to solve the fluid flow problem in the matrix subsystem by considering each generated wormhole segment as a sink source, while the finite difference method is applied to solve the fluid-sand flow problem in the wormhole subsystem. The sand failing at each segment is induced and propagated once the PGB sand failure criterion has been reached. Furthermore, transient rate type curves are generated to determine the dynamic wormhole network conditioned to the measured fluids and sand production profiles. Also, effects of the PGB sand failure criterion and reservoir properties on the transient rate behaviour for CHOPS wells can be examined and analyzed. A gradual increase in the production rate profile occurs at the early times due to the wormhole growth and propagation. The wormhole network can be dynamically characterized by matching both the sand production rate and transient fluid production rate. The former is found to be greatly affected by the breakdown pressure gradient, while the effective wormhole coverage and intensity dominate the latter. Once the pressure responses on a static wormhole network are validated with numerical simulation, the newly proposed method has been extended to field applications under various constraints, demonstrating that the fluid and sand production data of CHOPS wells can be integrated to accurately characterize the dynamic wormhole network within a unified, consistent, and efficient framework.

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Effects of Wormhole Configurations on Performance of Cyclic Solvent Injection in Heavy Oil Systems

Cited by 5 publications

References 31 publications

Propane–Bitumen Interactions during Cyclic Solvent Injection─A Cold Lake Case Study

Propane–Bitumen Interactions during Cyclic Solvent Injection─A Cold Lake Case Study

Comprehensive investigation of non-equilibrium properties of foamy oil induced by different types of gases

Characterization of Dynamic Wormhole Growth and Propagation During CHOPS Processes by Integrating Rate Transient Analysis and Pressure-Gradient-Based Sand Failure Criterion

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