Steam Flooding a Thick Heavy Oil Reservoir: Development of Numerical tools for Reservoir Management

Al-Hinai, Suleiman; Al-Shureqi, Hamad; Wunnik, John Van

doi:10.2523/129173-ms

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Numerical reservoir simulation was the primary technique used to analyse the historical behaviour and to forecast likely steam flood performance under different development scenarios [1]. Two simulation packages have been used depending on the application: STARS from CMG, and the Shell propriety simulation package MoReS.…”

Section: Modelling Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal Development of Thick Heavy Oil Fields: Phase II Development Options, Challenges and Solutions

Al-Hinai¹,

Wunnik²,

Thum³

et al. 2012

All Days

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A number of thermal developments are currently in execution in Oman. Two of these are located in South Oman and contain an exceptionally thick column (200m+) of heavy oil (200 to 400,000 cp) in Cambrian reservoirs at a depth of 1050 m below surface, underlain by a moderately strong aquifer. One of the fields has been in production for 20 years, the main production mechanisms are pressure depletion and natural ingress of aquifer water, while the other field has only produced a small amount by cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) trials due to the high viscosity of its heavy oil. For the next phase of development a vertical well pattern re-development is planned which will increase the ultimate recovery significantly, through a combination of cold production, CSS and steam flooding. The thickness of these reservoirs is unusually large for steamflooding and this poses both opportunities and challenges. There are no direct analogues and the industry practices of managing a steamflood in this specific setting is yet to be verified. Phase I deliberately addresses only the upper parts of the reservoirs while significant volumes are still to be matured in a future Phase II development. Following some higher level screening work of recovery mechanisms, the realistic development options for Phase II are innovative application of further steam flooding. Subsurface uncertainties are actively managed by different means; among them are the steam injection trials and steam pilot. The full field developments planned to start-up with Phase I in 2012 followed by Phase II in 2017. The paper will provide an overview of the proposed Phase II thermal development and specifically the innovative way development challenges are addressed. The integrated modeling work that yielded a better design of well completion strategies will be discussed. Additional topics addressed include minimising additional gas requirements through application of co-generation of electricity and steam (COGEN), water management and overall integrated project management.

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Section: Modelling Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal Development of Thick Heavy Oil Fields: Phase II Development Options, Challenges and Solutions

Al-Hinai¹,

Wunnik²,

Thum³

et al. 2012

All Days

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Many efforts have been made to further improve oil recovery after water flooding in thick reservoirs with positive rhythm, including perfecting well patterns, optimising water injection modes, and using horizontal wells (Gu and Zhai, 2005;Wang et al, 2006;Tan, 2009;Al-Hinai et al, 2010;Cui et al, 2010;Wang et al, 2012;Liu, 2012;Ding et al, 2013;Qu et al, 2014). Although gas flooding has been considered as a potential tertiary oil recovery technique, little research has focused on it in such reservoirs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical study of immiscible CO<SUB align="right">2 flooding in thick reservoirs with positive rhythm

Wang

Yang

Song

et al. 2017

PCFD

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Abstract:Benefitting from the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, CO 2 flooding for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) has become increasingly attractive to the petroleum industry. This paper presents a numerical study about the feasibility and efficiency of the immiscible CO 2 flooding process, which is a potential tertiary oil recovery method for use after water flooding, with advantages of lower cost and fewer facility requirements than miscible CO 2 flooding. A numerical simulation model established from laboratory experimental results was used to predict fluid behaviour and influence factors of immiscible CO 2 flooding in thick reservoirs with positive rhythm to enhance oil recovery after water flooding. Injection and confining pressure conditions are both important to the displacement process and results.

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“…[1][2][3][4][5], that is to conduct an experiment under the initial conditions of the reservoir. However, in China, to develop the heavy oil reservoirs, first we conduct the multi-cycle steam stimulation, and then turn to steam drive, and the reservoir conditions at this time are very different from the initial conditions [6][7][8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experiment on the Influence of Vertical Heterogeneity of Reservoir on the Steam Drive Effect

Pang¹,

Yixing²,

Xu³

et al. 2015

TOPEJ

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This paper carried out experimental studies on the influence of vertical heterogeneity of reservoir on the steam drive effect after multiple-round steam stimulations. Taking the actual productive process of a heavy oil reservoir as an example, a physical model for the vertical heterogeneity was established. First, under the initial reservoir conditions, conduct multiple rounds of steam stimulations to obtain the initial reservoir conditions of steam drive, and then carry out physical simulation of steam drive, including the simulation of the horizontal reservoir and the tilted one. The development of temperature field and the oil-water output changes indicate that when the steam drive is conducted after the steam stimulations, the steam advances along the high permeability layer with better steam stimulation effect, once it gets a breakthrough, the swept volume will not change. For the tilted reservoir, due to the beneficial effects of the gravity drainage, its displacement effect is better than the horizontal one, which provides an important basis for the adjustment of layers and the section of methods of gas injection when the steam simulation is converted into steam drive.

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Steam Flooding a Thick Heavy Oil Reservoir: Development of Numerical tools for Reservoir Management

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Thermal Development of Thick Heavy Oil Fields: Phase II Development Options, Challenges and Solutions

Thermal Development of Thick Heavy Oil Fields: Phase II Development Options, Challenges and Solutions

Numerical study of immiscible CO<SUB align="right">2 flooding in thick reservoirs with positive rhythm

Experiment on the Influence of Vertical Heterogeneity of Reservoir on the Steam Drive Effect

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