Type Curves for Cyclic Steam Operations in the Grosmont Saleski Pilot and Their Implications for Recovery Mechanisms

Abstract

Type curves that are developed for bitumen recovery from the Grosmont carbonate reservoir by cyclic operation of steam injection and production through a single horizontal well, consistently match field data, thereby confirming the validity of two key simplifying assumptions:1. heat flow is conductive; the heat capacity of the rock dominates: This is consistent with the low porosity and high heat capacity of dolomite. As a result, heat retention in the reservoir is efficient. 2. gravity drainage dominates the recovery mechanisms: Thermal Assisted Gas-Oil Gravity Drainage (TA-GOGD) is the dominant recovery mechanism.The type curve method is used to evaluate unrestricted reservoir performance by quantifying operational constraints and to forecast new cycles in the pilot operations.

Performance Evaluation of Automatically Generated Statistical Type Curves

“…By extension, although generating type curves may be scientifically interesting, unless it can be proved that a type curve really can predict production from a new well, it is useless (or worse) as a predictive tool. Yet the need to test type curves as a means of forecasting new production is not typically explored except through case studies [Fetkovitch et al, 1987], [Yang et al, 2015] after the fact. This paper presents a rigorous methodology for testing production forecasts for PUD wells based on a statistical type curve that is arrived at using data from analogous wells.…”