Title: A productivity model for cyclic steam stimulation for heavy oil with non-Newtonian flow behaviour

Authors: Jian Yang; Xiangfang Li; Zhangxin Chen; Ji Tian; Liang Huang; Yanjie Li

Addresses: State Key Laboratory of Offshore Oil Exploitation, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), Beijing, 100010, China; Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, 102249, China ' Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, 102249, China ' Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, 102249, China; Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, T2N1N4, Canada ' State Key Laboratory of Offshore Oil Exploitation, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), Beijing, 100010, China ' Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, 102249, China ' State Key Laboratory of Offshore Oil Exploitation, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), Beijing, 100010, China

Abstract: A lot of research has been performed and most researchers believe that heavy oil is a Bingham fluid under the condition of a low temperature, which has a threshold pressure gradient (TPG). However, the current analytical and semi-analytical models as well as numerical simulators in cyclic steam stimulation neglect TPG of heavy oil. In this paper, a new model that takes temperature variation and TPG into account is developed and analyzed. During a steam injection period, a reservoir is divided into a latent heat zone, a sensible heat zone and an unheated zone. During a production period, the reservoir is divided into a non-Newtonian fluid zone and a Newtonian fluid zone. Then results of this model are compared with both CMG-STARS results and field data. Finally, a set of sensitivity studies have been conducted to show the relationships between TPG and injection and production rate, steam quality and BHP. [Received: September 19, 2016; Accepted: January 28, 2017]

Keywords: cyclic steam stimulation; CSS; analytical model; threshold pressure gradient; heavy oil recovery; operation parameters.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOGCT.2018.090147

International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology, 2018 Vol.17 No.3, pp.257 - 283

Received: 19 Sep 2016
Accepted: 28 Jan 2017
Published online: 01 Mar 2018 *

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