A Dual-Directional Flow Control Device for Cyclic Steam Stimulation CSS Applications

Abstract

Cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) is one the most effective thermal recovery methods. It is widely used as the primary thermal recovery method to recovery heavy oil fields in Middle East, Asia Pacific, North and South America. In this paper, a novel dual-directional flow control device (FCD) will be introduced. This FCD technology can allocate accurate steam outflow into the reservoir formation and improve steam quality during steam injection period and can mitigate steam breakthrough from the neighboring wells during production period. In the first section, we will give a brief introduction on CSS and the main issues encountered in the field operation. A multi-directional flow control nozzle specifically designed for CSS application will be presented. Design philosophy in thermodynamics and hydrodynamics of the nozzle will be discussed in detail. Field performance results, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and flow loop testing data will be shown to evaluate the performance of the technology. The application of the technology in steam assisted thermal applications will be introduced. Well-known issues such as erosion and scaling on the FCD tools will be studied in the end.