Simulation and Production Optimization on Enhanced Oil Recovery during the Middle and Late Period for SAGD Development in Ultraheavy Oil Reservoirs with Interlayers

Abstract

Previous studies on the technique for using the remaining oil are incomplete and inaccurate according to the position of the interlayer of the Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) technique, and comparative studies of infilled horizontal wells are lacking. In this study, the SAGD well pair in the superheavy oil reservoir in the Z block in the Xinjiang Oilfield, China, was taken as an example. According to the reservoir’s geological parameters and production parameters, a typical well group geological model was created for the first time. The model divided the well groups in block Z into three categories according to the position of the interlayer, the production degree of the horizontal section, the oil recovery ratio, and the available degree of reserve control. According to the geological classification results, different typical well groups without an interlayer, with an interlayer located above the steam injection well, and with an interlayer located between the well pairs were classified and analyzed using numerical simulations. This was the first time the infilled horizontal well technique was compared with the infilled vertical well-assisted SAGD technique. In addition, the steam chamber connection law of the infilled vertical well-assisted SAGD was clarified. The results show that for reservoirs without an interlayer, the use of infilled horizontal well-assisted SAGD could speed up the lateral connection of the steam chambers and reduce the residual oil saturation. For reservoirs with a low production degree in the horizontal section and that are affected by an interlayer, an infilled vertical injector could be used with the assisted SAGD technique to increase the oil recovery by 5%–13%. The results of this study provided strong guidance for the next step in using enhanced oil recovery techniques to achieve traditional SAGD production from superheavy oil reservoirs with an interlayer.

Experimental and Numerical Investigation on Infilled Vertical Well LASER-Assisted SAGD

“…As the steam chamber shape is sensitive to the reservoir properties [4,5], poor sedimentation conditions always result in uneven steam chamber conformance and low oil recovery factor [6][7][8]. In order to produce the bypassed deposits of existing SAGD wellpair, infilled wells are suggested to deploy in the interwellpair region [9][10][11][12]. Owing to the advantages of flexible operation regulation and better suitability in interbedded reservoirs, multiple vertical wells are the first choice of infilled drilling [13], which has been successfully implemented in several SAGD projects in Canada and China [14].…”