Flow Control Devices in SAGD Completion Design: Enhanced Heavy Oil/Bitumen Recovery Through Improved Thermal Efficiencies

Abstract

The volume of heavy oil/bitumen recoverable worldwide is vast in quantity but difficult and energy intensive to extract due to the high in-situ oil viscosity of these unconventional plays. One method of thermal recovery, steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), has proven a commercial success in heavy oil/bitumen production by using steam to raise the temperature of heavy oil/bitumen in the reservoir with a resulting lower hydrocarbon viscosity, shifting the relative mobility of reservoir oil to one favorable for extraction via horizontal wells.However, geological and reservoir heterogeneity often complicate this task resulting in uneven production rates, higher operational costs, and stranded heavy oil/bitumen. This work theorizes that SAGD recovery is improved using flow control devices (FCDs) to force conformance in SAGD laterals. To test this theory, a novel protocol and test flow loop was developed to measure pressure drop across an autonomous hybrid FCD while flowing multiphase mixtures containing steam. This laboratory data was used to qualify existing pressure drop correlations and determine if nitrogen gas, a common test gas to describe FCD pressure drop response, creates suitable data for modeling steam systems. Finally, the flow loop was used to induce a steam "flash", a transition of water at saturation temperature to vapor due to a suddenly decreased pressure