Title: Smart completion design in cyclic steam stimulation process: an alternative for accelerating heavy oil recovery

Authors: A.M. Suranto; A.K. Permadi; W. Bae

Addresses: Department of Energy and Mineral Resources Engineering, Sejong University, 98 Gunja-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 143-747, South Korea; Department of Petroleum Engineering, Universitas Pembangunan Nasional 'Veteran' Yogyakarta, Jalan Ring Road Utara, Yogyakarta, 55283, Indonesia ' Department of Petroleum Engineering, Bandung Institute of Technology, Jalan Ganesa No. 10, Bandung, 40132, Indonesia ' Department of Energy and Mineral Resources Engineering, Sejong University, 98 Gunja-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 143-747, South Korea

Abstract: Cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) has succeeded in recovering bitumen and heavy oil. However, after the fifth cycle, the process is no longer effective as indicated by the increasing cumulative steam-oil ratio (cSOR). This paper proposes an improvement to the CSS performance by modifying the completion design. The perforation interval is divided into two parts: upper section (for injection) and lower section (for production). In such design, the injected steam would condense due to heat loss. The steam would then flow to the lower section because of gravity force and the oil starts to produce. The injection-production cycle is managed by an interval control valve (ICV). Simulation results show that the proposed design would reduce the cSOR up to 30% and increase the cumulative oil production by 3.5 times. It is also revealed that the longer the distance between the injection and production sections, the better the steam efficiency. [Received: July 11, 2014; Accepted: March 22, 2015]

Keywords: cyclic steam stimulation; CSS; heavy oil recovery; smart completion; heat efficiency; recovery factor; completion design; perforation interval; injection-production cycle; interval control valve; ICV; simulation; steam injection.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOGCT.2016.074289

International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology, 2016 Vol.11 No.2, pp.127 - 140

Received: 18 Jul 2014
Accepted: 22 Mar 2015

Published online: 21 Jan 2016 *

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