A new profile control design based on quantitative identification of steam breakthrough channel in heavy oil reservoirs

Abstract

Steam breakthrough has a great negative influence on the development of steam flooding in heavy oil reservoirs. In this article, a new profile control design based on quantitative identification of steam breakthrough channel is introduced. Firstly, dual-sandpack experiments are conducted to study the characteristics and influencing factors of steam breakthrough. Then based on the experimental results as well as pretreatment and combination of geological parameters and production data, comprehensive identification parameter (CIP) is achieved through the analytic hierarchy process to quantitatively describe the degree of steam breakthrough. Afterward, the breakthrough types of production wells are determined by CIP and the volume of breakthrough channels and profile control parameters among the injector and the producers are calculated according to the tapering distribution of steam breakthrough in the process of steam flooding in heavy oil reservoirs. The experiment results show that there exists a large difference between breakthrough channels and nonbreakthrough areas in temperature and oil recovery. Permeability contrast is an important factor, which influences the direction of steam breakthrough, and temperature has a great correlation with oil recovery under the heterogeneous condition. The determination of CIP is an attempt to quantify the degree of breakthrough and it combines many factors, which show the difference between the injector and the producer, as well as the difference between producers. All producers of the steam flooding well group can be divided into complete breakthrough wells with CIP over 0.5 and incomplete breakthrough wells with CIP below 0.5 for calculating conveniently. Based on the tapering distribution of the steam breakthrough channel, blocking parameters considering oil drainage radius around the injector, temperature distribution between the injector and the producer and the demand of blocking effect and field reality are obtained to calculate the blocking volume for complete breakthrough wells and incomplete breakthrough wells. This method could be used as a tool to judge breakthrough degree and design profile control parameters for oilfields with heavy oil reservoirs.

High‐temperature‐resistant polymer gel system with metal–organic mixed cross‐linking agents

“…Owing to the ongoing depletion of light oil resources and the increasing global energy demand, major oil companies around the world have been paying much more attention to heavy oil for the last two decades . Several effective thermal techniques have been developed in oil industry to enhance heavy oil recoveries, such as cyclic steam stimulation (CSS), steam flooding, and steam‐assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) .…”

“…Owing to the ongoing depletion of light oil resources and the increasing global energy demand, major oil companies around the world have been paying much more attention to heavy oil for the last two decades. [1][2][3][4] Several effective thermal techniques have been developed in oil industry to enhance heavy oil recoveries, such as cyclic steam stimulation (CSS), steam flooding, and steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD). 5 However, after a certain period of steam injection, steam breakthrough becomes a common problem which results in a narrow steam sweep area, poor heat efficiency, and a reduction in ultimate oil recovery.…”

High-Temperature-Resistant Epoxy Resin Gel Behavior and Profile Control in Heavy Oil Steam Drive

“…Nevertheless, substantial reserves of remaining oil are distributed in areas unaffected by steam flooding. Therefore, the conformance control of dominant channels becomes a crucial research direction to improve heavy oil recovery and enhance the overall sweep efficiency [11][12][13][14][15][16].…”

Numerical simulation of air–foam flooding in Wuliwan District 1 of Jing’an Oilfield

“…However, it is very hard to get good results with a single method because of gas or water channeling in low permeability oil reservoir. Use of foam is one potential solution for reducing gas mobility (Memon et al 2017) and promoting oil recovery in lower permeability reservoir by modifying the injection profile (Lu et al 2013;Sun et al 2016). Foam is widely used in polymer flooding (Sun et al 2016), water-alternating gas injection (Memon et al 2017), and steam flooding (Lu et al 2013).…”

“…Use of foam is one potential solution for reducing gas mobility (Memon et al 2017) and promoting oil recovery in lower permeability reservoir by modifying the injection profile (Lu et al 2013;Sun et al 2016). Foam is widely used in polymer flooding (Sun et al 2016), water-alternating gas injection (Memon et al 2017), and steam flooding (Lu et al 2013). Air-foam flooding technology combines gas injection flooding and foam flooding, which can act independently or interact with each other.…”