Mtodos de Recobro Mejorado

de Petrleo

Eider Niz Velsquez

2017
INYECCIN DE VAPOR
 Contenido
Inyeccin continua de vapor
Inyeccin cclica de vapor
Drenaje gravitacional asistido por vapor (SAGD)
INYECCIN CONTINUA DE VAPOR
Thermal Recovery, Stanford University, 2015

Steam Drive (SD)
Steam drives are usually done
in patterns (5-, 7-, or 9-spot) or
a line drive. Injected steam will
condense upon contact with
colder rock or oil.
Fingering will result in condensation of
steam to less mobile water and release
of the steam's latent heat, thereby
reducing the oil viscosity around the
finger. Therefore, steam floods have a
stable displacement front.

Once steam breaks

through at the producer,
the process is continued
with a reduced injection
rate, only to compensate
for heat losses in the
reservoir.

At this stage, oil is not

displaced but driven by
gravity drainage towards
the producer.
Thermal Recovery, Stanford University, 2015
Thermal Recovery, Stanford University, 2015
Cogeneration
 Calidad del vapor
Se simboliza como x o fs
Es la fraccin msica de agua en estado vapor
Es imprctico generar vapor a calidades por
encima del 90%
Si se desea inyectar vapor con 100% de
calidad, es posible usar un separador de
lquido a la salida del generador o a la entrada
de los pozos
Thermal Recovery, Stanford University, 2015
Thermal Recovery, Stanford University, 2015
 SOR & OSR

Incremental Steam
Oil Injected
Produced

SOR: Steam-to-Oil Ratio

SOR Typical values: 0.5 to 5.0 for CSS,
1.5 to 6.0 for SAGD, 2.5 to 8.0 for SD OSR: Oil-to-Steam Ratio
 Energy Efficiency of Steam Processes
Ejemplo SOR=4
1 kg of methane combusts releasing
55.5 MJ
1 kg of steam at 25 bar requires 2.80 1.0 kg of 4.0 kg of
MJ to go from 25C liquid to 100% methane bitumen
quality saturated steam
Then, 1 kg of methane can convert
to steam 19.8 kg H2O (19.8 L cold 42 MJ/kg
water equivalent)
Assuming Steam/Oil Ratio (SOR) of ENERGY 55.5 MJ 168.0 MJ
<3.02
4.0 of a steam EOR process, 19.8 L
H2O would recover 4.95 L of crude oil 3.60 US$/MMBTU 50 US$/stb
(~4.95 kg)
Assuming an overall thermal MONEY US$ 0.19 US$ 1.25
efficiency (steam generator, pipe and <6.60
wellbore losses) of 80%, the previous
number would reduce to 3.96 kg of OPEX: > 7 US$/bbl
bitumen (~4.0 kg of bitumen)
 Emisiones de CO2
Ejemplo SOR=4

CH4 + 2O2 CO2 + 2H2O

1 mol CH4 1 mol CO2
16 g 44 g 2.75 veces

1 kg 2.75 kg
2.75 kg de CO2 por 4.0 kg de crudo 0.6875 veces

1 bbl = 159 L ~ 159 kg

*0.6875 = 109 kg
~109 kg de CO2 por barril de crudo
Thermal Recovery, Stanford University, 2015
 MOST CONFIDENTIAL-11/15/2015

FromRamon Loosveld
 CRITERIOS DE SELECCIN

PARMETRO IDEAL ACEPTABLE

PROPIEDADES DE ROCA Y FLUIDO
Tipo de Roca Arenisca Caliza
Espesor Neto 30 150 ft > 10 ft
Profundidad 400 3000 ft 200 5000 ft
Presin < 2000 psig < 2000 psig
Permeabilidad > 300 mD > 100 mD
Anisotropa No Si
Capa de Gas No Pequea
Acufero No Si
 SCREENING
PARMETRO IDEAL ACEPTABLE
PROPIEDADES DE ROCA Y FLUIDO
Porosidad > 0.30 > 0.20
Soi > 0.13 > 0.08
Reservas Remanentes > 1000 bbl/ac-ft > 600 bbl/ac-ft

Arcillas No Controlables

PROPIEDADES DEL PETRLEO A RECUPERAR

Densidad 8 25 API Sin Lmites
Viscosidad > 5 cP Sin Lmites

Mtodos de recobro
 SCREENING

PARMETRO IDEAL ACEPTABLE

HISTORIA DE PRODUCCIN Y ESTADO DE LOS POZOS
Produccin Primaria Si No
rea de Drenaje < 10 acre < 20 acre
Configuracin de Confinada No Confinada
Pozos
Fuentes de Agua y de Disponibles Disponibles
Combustible
Eliminacin de Aguas Disponibles Disponibles
Residuales
 EFECTO DE LA RELACIN
ARENA - ARCILLA
La relacin aceite incremental vapor disminuye, a medida que la relacin
arena - arcilla se hace ms pequea; resultado del aumento del calor
perdido en las intercalaciones de arcilla.

0.6

incremental (RAV), Bls/Bls

Relacion aceite-vapor
0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

Arena/Arcilla > 0
Arena/Arcilla < 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Relacin Arena-Arcilla

Efecto de la Relacin arena-arcilla sobre la RAV.

Fuente Boberg, T.C. Termal Method of Oil Recovery

ZAFRA T, GARCA Y. GRM-UIS, 2010

 EFECTO DEL ESPESOR

Espesores de formacin delgados producen un incremento de las prdidas

de calor.
Formaciones gruesas y continuas, reducen las prdidas hacia los estratos
adyacentes

< 30 ft
100 ft

ZAFRA T, GARCA Y. GRM-UIS, 2010

PROFUNDIDAD

ZAFRA T, GARCA Y. GRM-UIS, 2010

 ACUFERO

h. Acufero < 20% h. Arena h Acufero > 20% h Arena

ZAFRA T, GARCA Y. GRM-UIS, 2010

 Mt. Poso Steam Drive
Gravity drainage process
Steam soak precursor
Updip injection
Early downdip injection to
establish steam path
Downdip water production to
keep reservoir pressure low and
prevent quenching of the steam
zone by incoming aquifer

Ultimate recovery > 70%

Thermal Recovery, Johan van Dorp, 2013

 Mount Poso Steam Drive Process

Thermal Recovery, Johan van Dorp, 2013

 Mount Poso Steam Drive Production

Thermal Recovery, Johan van Dorp, 2013

 Midway-Sunset Oil Field
30 km long x 5 km wide
Largest oil field in
California
3rd largest in US
Discovered in 1899
Produced 3.0 bln barrels by
2006
Reserves 530 mln barrels
in 2008
11500 wells drilled
1400-3500 ft deep

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midway-Sunset_Oil_Field
 Midway - Sunset Steam Drive Process

Stacked reservoirs
11 12.5 API oil
Viscosity ~10.000 cP
Gravity drainage process
Steam soak precursor
Updip injection
Early downdip injection to
establish steam path
Ultimate recovery >70%
Thermal Recovery, Johan van Dorp, 2013
 Midway - Sunset Steam Drive Production

Thermal Recovery, Johan van Dorp, 2013

Thermal Recovery Tripled Reserves

M.E. Tennyson, USGS - USGS Bulletin 2172-H, http://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/b2172-h/

 Kern River Oil Field
Oval-shape, 43 sq. km
3rd Largest oil field in
California
5th largest in the US
Discovered in 1894
Produced 2.0 bln barrels by
2006
Reserves 470 mln barrels
in 2006
9200 wells drilled
400-1300 ft deep

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kern_River_Oil_Field
 Kern River Steam Drive Process

Pattern flood
Low dip
Multiple
stacked sands
Steam soak
precursor

Thermal Recovery, Johan van Dorp, 2013

 Kern River Steam Drive Production

Thermal Recovery, Johan van Dorp, 2013

 Recursos Adicionales
Resumen de Schlumberger (2002) sobre
crudos pesados y principales aplicaciones:
INYECCIN CCLICA DE VAPOR (CSS)
 Steam soak
Single well process
Inject steam, shut in (soak), then produce
Typical recovery 20 40%
Used as precursor to steam flood
injection phase shut-in phase production phase

steam heated zone hot

hot water
water
heat losses
 Steam Soak Criteria
Thick reservoirs (reduce heat losses to over-
and under-burden, utilize gravity drainage)
Low pressure
No or inactive aquifer
High permeability, good vertical permeability
 SCREENING DE
APLICACIN
Propiedad Valor

Gravedad API < 15

Viscosidad del Crudo , cP > 300

Profundidad, ft < 3000

Espesor neto, ft > 30

Presin del Yacimiento, psi < 1500

Porosidad, fraccin > 0.3

Permeabilidad, mD 1000-2000

Fuente: ALI, S.M. Farouq. Practical Heavy Oil Recovery. HOR H 2006
 Steam Soak Design
Inject ~80% quality steam at wellhead
Inject 50 350 STB water equivalent / ft of net pay
per cycle
Total injection / cycle ~ 5000 15000 BW at ~ 1000
B/D CWE
Soak for 5 15 days
Produce for 6 12 months
Repeat
Complete well low in the pay section
 Steam Soak Example

Huntington Beach
Field
Soak through five
cycles
Note:
Improvement in
length of cycle
Little drop in peak
production
Imperial Oil Cold Lake CSS

Steam pressure above

fracture pressure
 CSS Above Fracturing Pressure
This has the advantage that almost any amount
If very low oil mobility of steam can be injected, but the disadvantage
prevents steam injection that it is very difficult to control where the
below fracturing pressures, injected fluids are going.
then the wells can be pre-
heated by circulating steam
or by using an electrical
heater. This also allows a
certain control over the
injection interval.

The alternative is to inject

steam above fracturing
conditions. This is
favourable for CSS but not
for a possible subsequent
steam flood.
CSS with Horizontal Wells

Horizontal wells target a larger area and improve

steam injectivity. The uniform steam injection
profile over the full well length is a major
challenge.
 Steam Conformance Challenges during CSS
Without appropriate steam injection
conformance, the effective length of the
well over which steam is injected is much
The steam profile has the shorter than the total well length.
tendency to be non-
uniform due to geological
heterogeneities, pressure
drops, or well bore
condensation towards the
toe of the well.

If the process is operated

above fracture pressure,
most of the steam will
enter the fractures and the
rest of the well cannot
benefit from the steam.

HEEL

TOE
 Conformance Correction with J-wells
Steam has the tendency to rise due to
One way to correct the gravity, condensed steam from the toe
steam injection profile is the flows back to the heel while the steam
use of J-wells. These are goes to the toe.
horizontal wells that dip up
slightly from the heel
towards the toe of the well.

On the other hand,

pressure is largest at the
start of the injection
interval, and the steam
has the tendency to enter
the reservoir at the heel.

Also, the reservoir

underneath the J will not
be drained since there is
no production well
located at the bottom of
the pay zone.
 Conformance Correction with Heaters
The heater compensates for the heat losses
A way to correct the while the steam travels towards the toe of the
problem of steam well. The heaters can be switched off once the
condensation at the toe well is heated sufficiently.
of the well is by using an
electric heater.

Another advantage of
heaters is that they can
be used to change the
stress regime of the
rocks and can therefore
influence the position
of the fracture(s) along
the well.

Disadvantages come
from the economic side
Imperial Oil Cold Lake CSS

Steam pressure above

fracture pressure
Imperial CSS Pad Design
Imperial CSS Reservoir Properties
Imperial CSS Well Completions
Imperial CSS Well Completions
Imperial CSS Artificial Lift Performance
 Imperial CSS Steam Quality

80%

60%
Imperial CSS Global Performance
Imperial CSS Factors affecting recovery
Imperial CSS Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Geomechanics
SAGD: DRENAJE GRAVITACIONAL
ASISTIDO POR VAPOR
 Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD)
Two horizontal wells
Upper injection
Lower production
Steam condenses at upper
interface
Oil and condensate drain to
well at bottom
Gravity drainage within
heated zone
Heated chamber grows
upwards and sideways

SAGD is aimed at bitumens with very high

viscosity (> 10,000 cp)
From: SM Farouq Ali, presented at 2008 SPE ATCE, 21 Sept 2008
The gravity drainage idea was originally conceived by Dr. Roger Butler, an engineer
for Imperial Oil in the 1970s. In 1975 Imperial Oil transferred Butler from Sarnia, Ontario
to Calgary, Alberta to head their heavy oil research effort. He tested the concept with
Imperial Oil in 1980, in a pilot at Cold Lake which featured one of the first horizontal wells
SAGD
in the industry, with vertical injectors.

Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority (AOSTRA) 1974

History
In 1974, former Premier of Alberta Peter Lougheed created the Alberta Oil Sands
Technology and Research Authority (AOSTRA) as an Alberta crown corporation to promote
the development and use of new technology for oil sands and heavy crude oil production,
and enhanced recovery of conventional crude oil.

AOSTRA Underground Test Facility 1984

In 1984, AOSTRA initiated the Underground Test Facility in the Athabasca oil sands, as an in-
situ SAGD bitumen recovery facility. The original UTF SAGD wells were drilled horizontally
from a tunnel in the limestone underburden, accessed with vertical mine shafts. It was here
that their first test of twin (horizontal) SAGD wells took place, proving the feasibility of the
concept, briefly achieving positive cash flow in 1992 at a production rate of about 2000
bbl/day from 3 well pairs.

Foster Creek
Dr. Roger Butler,
The Foster Creek plant in Alberta Canada, built in 1996, was the first commercial SAGD
project and by 2010 Foster Creek became the largest commercial SAGD project in Alberta SAGD inventor
to reach royalty payout status. The concept coincided with development of directional 1927-2005
drilling techniques that allowed companies to drill horizontal wells accurately, cheaply and
efficiently, to the point that it became hard to justify drilling a conventional vertical well
any more. With the low cost of drilling horizontal well pairs, and the very high recovery
rates of the SAGD process (up to 60% of the oil in place), SAGD is economically attractive to
oil companies.
 Butler-Mokrys SAGD inflow equations
Butler-Mokrys TanDrain
solution:
1.5kgSo h
qo 2 Lw
m s

Viscosity assumed infinite at

initial temperature.
m
s T Ti ,r

Ts Ti ,r qo oil rate [m/s]
Lw well length [m]
k (vertical) permeability [m2]
m can be found by numerically g acceleration du to gravity 9.81 [m/s2]
integrating viscosity curve; it is thermal diffusivity 0.8-0.9 E-6 [m2/s]
usually between 2.5 and 4.5 porosity [frac]
So=Soi-Sor saturation step [frac]
1
Ts
1 1 dT
s h drainage height [m]
m i ,r T T m viscosity exponent []
Ti ,r R s kinematic oil viscosity at steam temperature [Pa.s]
T temperature [K]
Perfil de Produccin Tpico en SAGD
 Have the Right Steam Quality and
Well Separation
Gravity drainage relies on Circulation time increases exponentially
vapor/liquid density with inter-well (vertical) distance
differential Selection of SAGD well pair separation
SAGD uses mainly the latent based on the balance of coning control
heat to heat formation and start-up time needed

The dryer the steam, the 1000

Reservoir Temperature: 15 C Estimate the required
better! Steam Temperature: 240 C
Well Diameter: 7 inches
circulation time
Formation Thermal Diff.: 0.054 m2/d
Day of Circulation (C)

Mid-point temperature: 70 C
60 C
100 50 C

Given a well distance, and

a target temperature

10
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Inter-well Distance (m)
 SAGD Start-Up Sequence
Circulation
Orion Typical Well Schematic (2 to 3 months - Establish thermal communication)

339 mm surface casing

245 mm Intermediate casing
178 mm slotted liner
73 mm tubing string
89 mm tubing string with fibre optic
instrument string in 50% of the producers
Start-up
(2 to 3 weeks - Establish hydraulic communication)

Semi-SAGD
(~1 month - Reduce the risk of steam breakthrough)

SAGD
 Paso 1: Circulacin

Circulation
(2 to 3 months - Establish thermal communication)
 Paso 2: Arranque

Start-up
(2 to 3 weeks - Establish hydraulic communication)
 Paso 3: Semi-SAGD

Semi-SAGD
(~1 month - Reduce the risk of steam breakthrough)
Paso 4: SAGD

SAGD
 SAGD steam trap control
(SubCool)
Steam Chamber Steam Chamber Steam Chamber
Tc, Pc Tc, Pc Tc, Pc

h
h
Tp, Pp Tp, Pp Tp, Pp
Zero SubCool Ideal SubCool High SubCool
Steam is short-circuited into the A small liquid column is maintained The high BHP causes an
producer because of low BHP. above the producer. The produced accumulation of liquids
The produced fluids are very fluids are hot but contain little or no (reduced rates). The produced
hot steam fluids are warm
Tp~ Tc Tp< Tc by 40 C Tp<< Tc
Pp~ Pc Pp= Pc + ghliquid Pp= Pc + ghliquid
from Tejera-Cuesta

Subcool control is keeping the temperature in the producer

below the flash value for water
 Wonderful 3D Effects ?! (Complicated)

Zero SubCool Ideal SubCool High SubCool

Steam is short-circuited into the
producer because of low BHP. The
produced fluids are very hot
T~ Tc
P~ Pc
A small liquid column is maintained
above the producer. The produced
fluids are hot but contain little or no
steam
T< Tc
P= Pc + ghliquid
The high BHP causes an
accumulation of liquids. The
produced fluids are warm
T<< Tc
P= Pc + ghliquid
 SAGD Elements of Success

Knowledge:
Accurate reservoir description
Efficient utilization of heat injected
Understanding of displacement mechanism
Understanding geomechanics
Very high effective kv
 SAGD Elements of Success

Operational:
Need good startup procedures
Optimize recovery performance (include geomechanics)
Achieve high rates (long horizontals, low skin,
multilaterals)
Ensure large reserves (thick, well-connected reservoirs)
Identifying optimal implementation (well configuration,
well completions, injection/production conditions)
Need good surveillance
 SAGD Screening
Tentative
Pay thickness: > 40 ft of continuous high So pay
Very high viscosity
High permeability: Darcy range
No bottom water
No gas cap
Competent cap rock
 Monitoring Know Whats Going On
Surface and subsurface
monitoring
Critical to operational integrity, Surface response (InSAR)

process evaluation and optimization

4D seismic

P/T obs. wells

DTS in SAGD wells

Uso de completamientos inteligentes
(Inflow Control Valve ICV)