Steam Injection into Low Permeability Fractured Reservoirs that Contain Light Oils
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Steam injection into heavy oils has been characterized very well over the last 40 years, and while steam has been injected into light oils almost as long, this process is much less understood. When this lack of understanding is coupled with the complexities of flow in low permeability fractured reservoirs, even less is known. This study sheds some light onto the subject at hand through the use of thermal simulation. One layer of a diatomaceous reservoir serves as the rock model, and the fluid is characterized by three hydrocarbon components and a water component. By studying the recovery mechanisms, this work shows that thermal expansion of the hydrocarbon fluids accounts for about two-thirds of the incremental recovery early in the steam drive; afterwards, the incremental recovery is equally split among thermal expansion, vaporization, and oil viscosity reduction. Late time is dominated by vaporization as the distillate bank breaks through to the producer. Three separate displacing fluid banks form in this type of steam injection process: a cold water bank, a combined hot water and distillate bank, and the steam front. Since this work uses diatomite, which is known for its high porosity, as the fractured medium, the issue of steam front stability is also considered. While both analytical and modeling information show that as porosity increases the stability of the steam front decreases, the actual simulation results show a small variation between sandstone (25% porosity) and high porosity diatomite (70 %) that is typified by a 10% - 20% decrease in break through time. Although the study used a diatomite model, the significance of this work can easily be extended to include all low permeability fractured reservoirs that have low primary and waterflood recoveries. For appropriate reservoirs, significant additional recovery could be obtained by implementing a steam drive into a low permeability fractured reservoir that contains light or medium weight oils.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | June 2002 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Hoffman, B. Todd |
|---|---|
| Primary advisor | Kovscek, Anthony R. |
| Degree granting institution | Stanford University, Department of Petroleum Engineering |
Subjects
| Subject | School of Earth Energy & Environmental Sciences |
|---|---|
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
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Preferred citation
- Preferred Citation
- Hoffman, B. Todd. (2002). Steam Injection into Low Permeability Fractured Reservoirs that Contain Light Oils. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/hx735vm3872
Collection
Master's Theses, Doerr School of Sustainability
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