Light Oil Steamflooding: A Laboratory Study of Oil Recovery from Oil-Wet and Water-Wet Porous Media from a 2-D Physical Model

Olsen, D.K.; Sarathi, P.S.; Mahmood, S.M.; Ramzel, E.B.; Roark, S.D.

doi:10.2523/23692-ms

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…To conduct this resem'ch, methodology was needed to determine changes in capillary pressure and wettability with increasing temperature. descriptions of this research are given in the following references: , (Olsen, Crocker, Sarathi and Betancourt, 1991), and (Olsen, Sarathi, Roark, Ramzel and Mahmood, 1992).…”

Section: -7 Objectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Supporting technology for enhanced oil recovery: Sixth amendment and extension to Annex IV enhanced oil recovery thermal processes

Reid¹,

Rivas²

1991

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DISCLAIMER Thisreportwaspreparedasan account of worksponsored byan agencyoftheUnitedStatesGovernment.Neitherthe UnitedStatesGovernment noranyagency thereof, noranyoi theiremployees, makes anywarranty, expressor implied, or assumes anylegalliabilityor responsibility fortheaccuracy, completeness, or usefulness ofanyinformation°apparatus, product, or process disclosed, orrepresents that itsusewouldnot inlringeprivately ownedrights. Reference hereintoanyspecific commercial product, process,or serviceby trade name,trademark, manufacturer, or otherwisedoes not necessarily constitute or implyitsendorsement, recommendation, or tavoring bytheUnitedStatesGovernment or any agencythereof.TheviewsandoDinlons oi authorsexpressed hereindo not necessarily stateor reflectthoseof the UnitedStatesGovernment or anyagencythereof. This report has been reproduced directly from the best available copy.

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Section: -7 Objectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Supporting technology for enhanced oil recovery: Sixth amendment and extension to Annex IV enhanced oil recovery thermal processes

Reid¹,

Rivas²

1991

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“…Also, oil thermal expansion and gas-drive mechanisms mostly contribute to the ultimate oil recovery (Verelan et al, 2008). Several other successful field tests were reported in the literature focusing on light oil reservoirs (Olsen et al, 1992;Perez-Perez and Gamboa, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feasibility Analysis of the Steam Flooding Process in an Iranian Fractured Light Oil Reservoir

Haghighi¹

2010

BJPG

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Steam flooding is applied to heavy and extra-heavy oil reservoirs, but it may be used in light oil reservoirs when water injection does not work effectively. In this simulation study, the feasibility of the steam flooding method applied as enhanced oil recovery process to one Iranian oil-wet fractured reservoir is investigated. For this purpose, a simulation model based on a sector of this reservoir was prepared and history matched with available production data. Steam flooding has been simulated for this reservoir and has been compared with conventional water injection process. A sensitivity analysis has been performed in order to study the effects of important parameters. The results show that the steam flooding process is likely to be profitable for this reservoir, when compared with water injection, improving the oil recovery factor by nearly 14 %.

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Light-Oil Steamdrive in Fractured Low-Permeability Reservoirs

Hoffman

Kovscek

2003

SPE Western Regional/Aapg Pacific Section Joint Meeting

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Steam injection into heavy oils has been well characterized over the last 40 years, and while steam has been injected into light oils almost as long, the mechanisms and effectiveness of this process are much less understood. When this lack of understanding is coupled with the complexities of flow in low permeability fractured reservoirs, even less is known. This study examines thermal recovery in low permeability, fractured reservoirs using thermal compositional simulation. A diatomaceous reservoir provided input for the rock model. The oil phase is represented by three pseudo-components that characterize a relatively light crude oil. Both the areal and vertical recovery efficiencies are improved for steam injection compared to water injection. The incremental recovery depends on the distribution of permeability and is greatest for homogeneous distributions. In regard to recovery mechanisms, thermal expansion of the hydrocarbon fluids accounts for over half of the incremental recovery early in the steam drive; after roughly 0.4 pore volume of steam injection (cold water basis), the incremental recovery is split equally among thermal expansion, vaporization, and oil viscosity reduction. Late time behavior is dominated by vaporization as the distillate bank breaks through to the producer. As a consequence of steam injection three separate fluid banks form: a cold water bank, a combined hot water and distillate bank, and the steam front. Hence, displacement mechanisms are substantially different from the heavy-oil situation where oil viscosity reduction and, frequently, gravity drainage are dominant. Although the study uses a diatomite rock and fluid model, this work clearly extends to include all low permeability fractured reservoirs that have low primary and waterflood recoveries. For such reservoirs, significant additional recovery is obtained by implementing a steam drive. Introduction In the 1960's, one of the first light-oil steam flood (LOSF) field trials was initiated at the Brea Field near Los Angeles. Brea consists of steeply dipping sands with an average permeability around 70 md and a typical porosity of 22%.1 The development of further LOSF projects was not as rapid as that of heavy oil. Heavy oils benefit tremendously from steam injection (compared to water injection) because heavy-oil viscosity decreases many fold upon heating. For some heavy-oil reservoirs, oil can only be produced with thermal recovery techniques, such as steamflooding. Unlike heavy oils, light oil reservoirs can be developed with water drives, and because water drives are seen as less risky with less initial investment than steam injection, LOSF were developed more sparsely.2 Nevertheless, there are a number of applications where LOSF seems to be a good alternative to waterflooding. In highly-dipping reservoirs, thermally-enhanced gravity drainage improves the recovery process; likewise, in confined unconsolidated sandstones residual oil saturations can be very low, around 5%. Application of steam floods in low-permeability hydraulically-fractured reservoirs, such as diatomite, is also promising.3,4,5,6 Significant detail has been paid to steamflooding recovery mechanisms. Wu7 presented a critical review. He and others8 have identified the following, thorough, but not exhaustive, list:viscosity reduction;distillation (vaporization);distillate (in-situ solvent) drive;steam (gas) drive;thermal expansion;relative permeability and capillary pressure variation; andgravity segregation. Figure 1 displays schematically how the most significant mechanisms vary with oil reservoirs containing viscous oil. The objective of steamflooding is to increase oil production by reducing oil viscosity; thus, allowing oil drainage at significantly increased rates. Conversely, for low viscosity oils, the primary objective is to reduce remaining oil saturation below that obtainable by waterflooding. This is accomplished through vaporization of oil. In fractured systems or highly heterogeneous reservoirs, thermal conduction allows heat to sweep areas of the reservoir not contacted by steam. In this case, thermal expansion is an important recovery mechanism.

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Light Oil Steamflooding: A Laboratory Study of Oil Recovery from Oil-Wet and Water-Wet Porous Media from a 2-D Physical Model

Cited by 3 publications

References 2 publications

Supporting technology for enhanced oil recovery: Sixth amendment and extension to Annex IV enhanced oil recovery thermal processes

Supporting technology for enhanced oil recovery: Sixth amendment and extension to Annex IV enhanced oil recovery thermal processes

Feasibility Analysis of the Steam Flooding Process in an Iranian Fractured Light Oil Reservoir

Light-Oil Steamdrive in Fractured Low-Permeability Reservoirs

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