An Improved Vapour Solvent Injection Technique for Enhanced Heavy Oil Recovery
type: CreativeWork
description: There are tremendous heavy oil and bitumen resources in Canada, and most of them are located in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. Thermal-based recovery techniques, such as steam flooding, cyclic steam stimulation (CSS), and steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), are effective and have been widely applied in the field to reduce heavy oil viscosity. However, thermal-based methods are costly and uneconomic, particularly for reservoirs with a thin net-pay. In Saskatchewan, half of the heavy oil resources are contained in reservoirs with a pay zone thickness of less than 10 metres. Non-thermal methods, such as cold production, and solvent-based methods, are the alternative approaches. Cold production, such as cold heavy oil production (CHOP) and cold heavy oil production with sands (CHOPS), suffers low recovery factor, which is approximate 5–10% of original oil in place (OOIP). Solvent-based heavy oil recovery methods represent a promising technique that has been extensively studied by many researchers. It has the potential to recover heavy oil resources more economically and in a more environmentally friendly fashion in cases in which the thermal-based method is not applicable or after CHOP/CHOPS processes. Currently, traditional solvent injection methods include continuous injection processes, such as vapour extraction (VAPEX), and cyclic injection processes, such as cyclic solvent injection (CSI). The low production rates of VAPEX are observed in field tests. CSI does not show exciting results due to the quick pressure depletion and the sudden reservoir energy loss, which causes the oil to regain its viscosity. Thus, a more effective solvent injection technique is urgently required to overcome the disadvantages in traditional solvent injection processes. In this study, a new cyclic solvent production (CSP) technique, cyclic production with continuous solvent injection (CPCSI), was proposed and evaluated through experiments and numerical simulations. Low permea…
abstract: There are tremendous heavy oil and bitumen resources in Canada, and most of them are located in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. Thermal-based recovery techniques, such as steam flooding, cyclic steam stimulation (CSS), and steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), are effective and have been widely applied in the field to reduce heavy oil viscosity. However, thermal-based methods are costly and uneconomic, particularly for reservoirs with a thin net-pay. In Saskatchewan, half of the heavy oil resources are contained in reservoirs with a pay zone thickness of less than 10 metres. Non-thermal methods, such as cold production, and solvent-based methods, are the alternative approaches. Cold production, such as cold heavy oil production (CHOP) and cold heavy oil production with sands (CHOPS), suffers low recovery factor, which is approximate 5–10% of original oil in place (OOIP). Solvent-based heavy oil recovery methods represent a promising technique that has been extensively studied by many researchers. It has the potential to recover heavy oil resources more economically and in a more environmentally friendly fashion in cases in which the thermal-based method is not applicable or after CHOP/CHOPS processes. Currently, traditional solvent injection methods include continuous injection processes, such as vapour extraction (VAPEX), and cyclic injection processes, such as cyclic solvent injection (CSI). The low production rates of VAPEX are observed in field tests. CSI does not show exciting results due to the quick pressure depletion and the sudden reservoir energy loss, which causes the oil to regain its viscosity. Thus, a more effective solvent injection technique is urgently required to overcome the disadvantages in traditional solvent injection processes. In this study, a new cyclic solvent production (CSP) technique, cyclic production with continuous solvent injection (CPCSI), was proposed and evaluated through experiments and numerical simulations. Low permea…
author: Jiang, Tao
language: en
date published: 2013-07
date modified: 2026-07-24T04:03:47Z
provider: University of Regina
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/10294/5313

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.82465/4910