Anticipating Operational Issues for the Field Pilot Test of Air Injection in Chichimene, Colombia

Abstract

La lucha contra las incrustaciones-Remoción y prevención Trate de imaginar una amenaza capaz de estrangular un pozo productivo en el lapso de 24 horas. La acumulación de incrustaciones dentro de las tuberías hace exactamente eso y provoca millones de dólares de pérdidas cada año. Los nuevos hallazgos con respecto a la

Workflow of the In Situ Combustion EOR Method in Venezuela: Challenges and Opportunities

“…For these reasons, well failure due to thermal stress is considered a key challenge in the ISC operations . High temperatures in the wells also affect downhole equipment and increase the risks of air injection system explosion ,, and corrosion, representing a big challenge from a safety and technical-economic point of view. Monitoring flow line temperatures and casing pressure along with running temperature logs in injector wells is critical to maintaining an efficient ISC process.…”

“…The oxygen (O 2 ) breakthrough in producing wells is one of the most critical problems in ISC operations, ,,,− which could affect the areal sweep efficiency, the proper functioning of the artificial lift methods, and combustion performance at field conditions. O 2 breakthrough can be attributed to incomplete combustion, heterogeneities, and channeling in areas of the reservoir with high permeability, , location of the injector and producer wells in the reservoir, etc.…”

“…Methods to control O 2 breakthrough consist of monitoring the temperature, composition of the produced fluids and fluid saturations at reservoir conditions, and analysis of injectivity and connectivity to identify heterogeneities and flow patterns. This allows for the optimization of the design and configuration of the pilot wells (nitrogen connectivity tests). , It is reported that optimization of the distance between the injection and horizontal production wells together with optimization of the air injection rates are the key parameters in reducing the risks of O 2 breakthrough. , The air injection rate is an important parameter to provide the heat necessary for thermal cracking reactions (i.e., deposited coke). Exceeding air injection could affect the general performance of the ISC technology, as high gas production is difficult to handle at surface conditions (high temperatures in wells, impact on artificial lift systems, etc.…”

“…Scale/Incrustations. Garcia (2016) 59 reports that scaling/incrustations is an operational challenge in the ISC process, which could be linked to factors: (1) compatibility between the injection and the formation waters when a wet combustion process is carried out; (2) sedimentation due to variation of the composition of the fluid with pressure and temperature, and as a consequence, of the limiting solubility of certain minerals causing their precipitation in the form of scales; and (3) release of combustion gases (CO 2 ) that might alter pH of solution and generate carbonate precipitates with potentially adverse impact on the productivity of the wells.…”

“…Analytical frontal stability criterion considering several key factors (e.g., viscous forces, heat conduction, matrix permeability changes produced by coke deposition, and gravity) has been presented in the literature by Zhu (2021) . At the field scale, the main challenges in the application of the technology are related to ignition, high temperature of the wells, oxygen breakthrough, management of acid gases, corrosion, formation of emulsions, lack of injectivity-connectivity, sand production, , mobility reduction and low injectivity, etc.…”