Effects of Lean Zones on Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage Performance

Jinze Xu, Zhangxin Chen, Xiaohu Dong and Wei Zhou
Additional contact information
Jinze Xu: Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
Zhangxin Chen: Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
Xiaohu Dong: MOE Key Laboratory of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Wei Zhou: Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-16

Abstract: A thorough understanding of the effects of lean zones and the improvement of steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) operations with such heterogeneities is critically important for reducing the disadvantages of lean zones. The numerical model shows: (1) SAGD is most influenced by the single-layer lean zone with the above-injector (AI) location; with the decrease of interval distance and increase of thickness and water saturation in lean zones, the detrimental effect of single-layer lean zones on SAGD performance increases; (2) with the increase of period and decrease of connate and initial water saturations in lean zones, the detrimental effect of multiple-layer lean zones on SAGD performance increases; (3) reducing the injection pressure properly improves SAGD performance in leaky oil sands. The field-scale study indicates: (1) well pair 1 is most affected by lean zones in the studied pad due to the widest distribution of lean zones above its injector, and a hybrid cyclic steam stimulation (CSS)/SAGD method is proposed to overcome the practical problem of a low injection pressure in this area; (2) simulation results prove that the hybrid CSS/SAGD method is better than the conventional SAGD method in leaky oil sands.

Keywords: oil sands; steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD); cyclic steam stimulation (CSS); lean zone; reservoir simulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/4/471/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/4/471/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:10:y:2017:i:4:p:471-:d:94842

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().