Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes have been applied to improve mobility of heavy oil and bitumen. This article has introduced three topics on numerical models for heavy oil and bitumen productions based on laboratory measurements and their scaling up to eld reservoir simulations using CMG STARS TM. First one is CO 2 gas foaming by depressurizing after immiscible CO 2 dissolution in heavy oil. Saturated CO 2 solubility and apparent swelling after foaming were measured on decreasing pressure processes using PVT apparatus and a high pressure cell. The numerical models of apparent viscosity and swelling ratio for foamy heavy oil have been proposed based on the measurement data and applied to a eld scale oil-reservoir by Huff-n-Puff production method The second one is bitumen emulsion (water in oil) formed by the Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) method for oil-sands layers, because condensed ne water-droplets diffuse into bitumen at the steam-chamber boundary. The characteristic of heavy-oil viscosity was measured against water/oil ratio (W/O) and temperature. The model of viscosity ratio (emulsion/original) vs. W/O has been presented and investigated its effect on bitumen-production from a typical oilsands reservoir by SAGD method. Finally, it has been shown that cumulative bitumen-production increases with bitumen swelling function of W/O. The third one is heavy oil recovery by in-situ combustion with injecting air or O 2 gas. Recently, the Toe-to-Heal Air Injection (THAI) method using a vertical injector and a horizontal producer is expected to be able to keep stable combustion front and oil drainage ow into the producer. Based on our numerical history-matching study on the tube combustion test for bitumen sands-pack, the reaction model consists from 3 major reactions were screened from 8 chemical reactions on Maltenes, Asphaltenes and Coke. Finally, the model was successfully applied to a heavy-oil in-situ production from a typical eld oil reservoir.
In-Situ Combustion ISC is the oldest thermal oil recovery method, however, only four projects have been carried out in the world, because controls of combustion front and oil production are extremely dif cult compared with steam injection. Recently, the toe to heel air injection THAI method is expected to have several advantages on combustion control, oil recovery ratio, costs of production and water treatment compared with steam injection methods, such as SAGD method using horizontal wells. THAI method also uses a horizontal producer that controls the combustion front and downward gravity oil ow to the producer. To promote THAI method, the reliable kinetic chemical model on ISC process has been required for eld scale simulations. Chen et al. 2014 carried the history matching using the kinetic model for the combustion tube tests. However they didn t show good matching with the measurement results, since their model was not proper to simulate chemical reactions of Coke generation from Asphaltenes. In this study, the classification of four oil components, Saturates, Aromatics, Resins and Asphaltenes SARA , were applied to construct ISC modeling. A new pseudo component called as Partial Oxygenated Asphaltenes POA has been proposed based on measurement results of a thermal gravity analysis TGA and the batch reactor test by revising the Chen et al. s model. The present model using 11 chemical reactions including POA has been confirmed to show a reasonable matching with the TGA result that POA mass increased in air with O 2 absorption under 200ºC and decreased above 200ºC with thermal cracking of Asphaltenes. To reduce computational time, 5 chemical reactions were screened from original 11 reactions. In addition, the model of 5 reactions was successfully applied to the field scale simulation by THAI method with reducing frequency factors in the kinetic reactions to eliminate the in uence of grid-block size.
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