Mechanism of High-Pressure Dilation of Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage by Cyclic Multi-Agent Injection

Qijun Lv, Guo Yang, Yangbo Xie, Xiaomei Ma, Yongbin Wu (), Ye Yao and Linsong Chen
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Qijun Lv: Xinjiang Oilfield Company, Petrochina, Keramay 834000, China
Guo Yang: Xinjiang Oilfield Company, Petrochina, Keramay 834000, China
Yangbo Xie: Xinjiang Oilfield Company, Petrochina, Keramay 834000, China
Xiaomei Ma: Xinjiang Oilfield Company, Petrochina, Keramay 834000, China
Yongbin Wu: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, Petrochina, Beijing 100083, China
Ye Yao: School of Accounting, Shanghai Lixin Accounting and Finance College, Shanghai 201600, China
Linsong Chen: School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102200, China

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 16, 1-23

Abstract: The reservoir properties of super-heavy oil reservoirs in fluvial sedimentation are relatively poor, with high heterogeneity directly affecting the steam injection rate and expansion velocity of the steam chamber in the SAGD process. In order to significantly improve SAGD production performance, a combination of laboratory testing and physical simulation experiments was used to analyze the changes in reservoir-rock structure, rock geomechanical characteristics, and porosity and permeability during high-pressure injection, through rock geomechanics testing, core-flood experiment, and SEM scanning analysis. Large-scale two-dimensional physical simulation experiments were designed to analyze the effect of different injection agents in assisting the expansion of steam chambers. The experimental results showed that, with the increase in injection pore pressure, the reservoir permeability increased from 2.74 D to 4.56 D, and the contact between rock particles became looser after expansion, indicating a significant improvement in reservoir properties through high-pressure-injection-induced dilation. The results of the two-dimensional physical simulation experiments demonstrated that the solvent-assisted steam-chamber dilation speed was further increased compared with the conventional huff-n-puff dilation. Cyclic gas-injection volume can be increased from 0.16 PV in pure-steam injection cases to 0.32 PV. The hybrid-agent system of solvent-plus-gas can produce the dual positive effect of solvent dissolution and gas diffusion, more effectively improve the steam-chamber expansion speed, enhance the phased oil-recovery degree by 23.41%, and increase the oil/steam ratio from 0.27 to 0.33, indicating encouraging potentials in improving heavy oil and bitumen production performance by the dilation strategy.

Keywords: SAGD; dilation; solvent; heterogeneity; oil recovery factor (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: 2024
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