Heavy Oil

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Presented by: Ali Samin

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Heavy oil properties

What is heavy oil?
Heavy oil is a dense, viscous crude oil that

has an API gravity between 10 and 21.5 degrees.

Most heavy oil has a viscosity between 100

and 10,000 centipoise (cp), and does not flow readily in the reservoir without dilution (with solvent) and/or the introduction of heat.

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Heavy oil properties

1/6/13

Heavy oil properties

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Heavy oil properties

The common characteristic properties of heavy oil are:
High viscosity High specific gravity Low hydrogen to carbon ratios High carbon residues High contents of asphaltenes, heavy metal, sulfur and

nitrogen.

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Heavy oil properties

Reservoir Properties
Most heavy oils deposits occur in shallow

(3000ft or less), high permeability (one to several darcies), high porosity (around 30%) poorly consolidated sand formations.

The oil saturations tend to be high (50-80%

pore volume) and formation thicknesses are 50 to several hundred feet.

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Heavy oil properties

Reservoir Properties
Most heavy oils deposits occur in shallow

zones (3000ft or less), high permeability (one to several darcies), high porosity (around 30%) poorly consolidated sand formations.

The oil saturations tend to be high (50-80%

pore volume) and formation thicknesses are 50 to several hundred feet.

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Recovery methods
The more viscous the oil, the difficult it is to

produce.

Conventicle methods are rarely applicable. Primary recovery is very low Alternative recovery methods include:

Thermal methods Non-Thermal methods

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Recovery methods

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Recovery methods

Thermal methods used:

Hot Waterflooding Steam injection :

Cyclic Steam Stimulation Steam flooding

In-situ combustion

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Recovery methods
Non thermal methods are considered for :
Thin formations less than 30 ft Excessive depth > 3000 ft Low permeability < 1 darcy Moderate Oil viscosity in between 50-200 cp Low oil saturation Low porosity

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Recovery methods
Steam flooding
A method of thermal

recovery in which steam generated at surface is injected into the reservoir through specially distributed injection horizontal wells.

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Recovery methods
In-situ combustion In-situ combustion or fireflooding is a process where a portion of oil (about 10%) of original oil in place is oxidized to generate heat. This process has a high thermal efficiency Air ,oxygen enriched air ,or even pure oxygen must be injected to oxidize the oil
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Recovery methods

Non thermal methods : Non-thermal method Mechanism:

Lower the viscosity of the oil by Solvents, CO2,

inert gas

Increase the viscosity of the drive fluid by

Polymers, emulsions

Reduce the interfacial tension

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Recovery methods
Non thermal methods are considered for :
Thin formations less than 30 ft Excessive depth > 3000 ft Low permeability < 1 darcy Moderate Oil viscosity in between 50-200 cp Low oil saturation Low porosity

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Recovery methods

Surfactant And Wettability

Alteration Flooding: Use of surfactants in order to reduce the oil-water interfacial tension , and thus increase oil displacement efficiency by a waterflood.
Wettability alteration

flooding : is based upon changing 1/6/13 an oil-wet rock surface to water-wet

Recovery methods
Electromagnetic Heating of Oil :

The main effect is the reduction of the viscosity of heavy and extra heavy crudes with the corresponding increase in production The source of the heat, generated either in the wells or in the volume of the reservoir, is the electrical energy supplied from the surface This energy is then transmitted to the reservoir either by cables or through metal structures that reach the reservoir.
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Recovery methods

Methods of Electromagnetic Heating:

Low Frequency Electrical

Heating (Resistive Heating):energy is supplied directly from the 60 Hz distribution grid

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Recovery methods

Distributed Microwave

Heating Scheme:
High frequency electromagnetic

energy can be transferred from power supplies situated at the surface to the reservoir region either :
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Recovery methods

Schemes for high-frequency electromagnetic power transfer 1/6/13 from the surface to the reservoir (the hatched area indicates

Recovery methods
Concentrated Heating Scheme( Resistive and Inductive :
In this concentrated case, a heating unit is located in the well at the depth of the producing zone. The heating is generated locally over the heater volume and then transferred to the system. Heat flow is conductive and convective in the reservoir and well volumes, and conductive in the rest of the system.
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Recovery methods

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Uprising Technologies
Distributed Heating Scheme :
In this case, an external power supply generating

low-frequency currents and voltages is connected by cable to a pressure device in contact with the perforated section of the production casing, while the other terminal is either connected to ground at the surface or at some lower level. reservoir, and in each volume element of material, it dissipates electrical power in accordance with the value of the resistance and capacitance per unit volume of the different media..

In either case, electrical current flows through the

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Recovery methods
Conclusion
The potential of heavy oil recovery is high Technology is progressing very well. 5-7 % out of HC resources make it valuable

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