The Yarega Heavy Oil Field - History, Experience, and Future

Abstract

Russia's Yarega Heavy Oil Field In 1664, a grand embassy traveled from Holland to Russia. Nicholaas Witsen, a scientist and traveler, was a member of that party, and in 1687, he published, “The North and Eastern Tartary.” He wrote in that book, “The Ukhta River is a one-day travel from the Pechora River. There is a shallow place on the Ukhta River 18 miles from the portage where the water is stained with fat, appearing to be black oil.” In 1721, Gregory Cherepanov discovered an oil spring on the Ukhta River, and Tsar Peter the Great issued an order to inspect the oil spring and take samples for analysis. On 18 November 1745, the Mining Board of Russia granted Fedor Savelievich Pryadunov permission to build an oil plant on the Ukhta River. This was the beginning of the oil industry in Russia, in what is now the Yarega field. The Yarega heavy-oil field was dis-covered in 1932. The field is located in Komi Republic, 20 km from the city of Ukhta. A prominent Soviet geologist, I.N. Strizhev, was a pioneer in discovering the field. The top of the terrigenous reservoir at the Yarega field is at 200 m true vertical depth (TVD). The rock properties have high permeability, oil saturation, and porosity. A dominant characteristic of the field is its high oil viscosity, 16000 mPa·s at the initial reservoir temperature of 6°C. The oil is heavy; in-situ density is 933 kg/m3, 945 kg/m3 at the surface. The gas ratio is 10–13 m3/ton. At the initial field-development stage, attempts were made to drill wells from the surface to produce oil without any formation stimulation. Sixty-nine wells were drilled from two sites according to a 75- and 100-m triangle well-spacing pattern covering 43.4 hectares. The recovery factor after 10–12 years of development was only 0.017. Reservoir development from the surface without stimulation proved to be economically unjustified. In 1934, the geologist A.V. Kulevsky proposed the idea of hot-water stimulation. Laboratory test results were encouraging, but insufficient technical and engineering support prevented the implementation of the thermal-stimulation technique in the field.

On energy and resource-saving of underground oil mine workings

“…Воздух, температура которого равна температуре пород (порядка 10 °С), по ходку поступает в буровую галерею 2. Температура воздуха в буровой галерее, согласно работам [1,2,5,7], может достигать 55 °С и выше, в результате чего подаваемый воздух нагревается и становится более легким. Нагретый воздух за счет разрежения направляется вверх к устью 7 вентиляционной скважины.…”

“…Как известно, процесс добычи нефти термошахтным способом [1,2] сопровождается значительными тепло-и влаговыделениями в рабочих зонах (буровых галереях уклонных блоков), в результате чего для нормализации состава и параметров рудничной атмосферы в нефтешахту требуется подавать всё большее количество свежего воздуха, что влечет за собой неоправданно быстрый рост затрат на электроэнергию.…”