Characterization of Gas-Oil Flow in Cyclic Solvent Injection (CSI) for Heavy Oil Recovery

Cyclic Solvent Injection (CSI) has emerged as an effective post-CHOPS recovery method. It has shown a great potential with the aid of the solvent injection under the huff-n-puff operation. The use of solvent that maintains a strong nature of gas results in the solvent chamber which under the huff-n-puff operation locates at an inner region towards the well. The CSI process is therefore governed by the gas-oil flow as the solvent chamber is dominated by the free gas-oil flow and the heavy oil zone by the dispersed gas-oil flow referred to as the foamy oil flow. The gas-oil flow in CSI eventually appears as the combined flow of free gas and foamy oil across the solvent chamber. The gas-oil flow in heavy oil systems has been widely investigated based on heavy oil solution gas drive. However, the combined flow of free gas and foamy oil in CSI considerably differs from that in heavy oil solution gas drive and therefore needs to be investigated separately. The differences mainly arise as in CSI the free gas originates from the solvent chamber whereas in heavy oil solution gas drive it evolves from solution gas. Consequently, the combined flow of free gas and foamy oil in CSI yields the characteristics that strongly depend on the pressure depletion rate and the growing solvent chamber. This study is aimed at characterizing the gas-oil flow in CSI for heavy oil recovery at different pressure depletion rates under the effect of the growing solvent chamber. To fulfill the objective, the gas-liquid relative permeability curves are inferred with the use of numerical simulations by history-matching seven lab-scale CSI tests performed at varying pressure depletion rates. The foamy oil behavior is taken into account by applying the modified-fractional flow model. This study therefore not only demonstrates the distinct properties of the gas-oil relative permeability curves in CSI process but also the applicability of the modified-fractional flow model. The sensitivity analysis is performed to examine the phenomena responsible for the distinct behavior of the gas-oil flow in CSI.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Engineering - Petroleum Systems

Grantor dc:publisher

Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Hong, Sam Yeol

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Zeng, Fanhua

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Jin, Yee-Chung
• Shirif, Ezeddin

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

https://doi.org/10.82465/4577

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uregina.scholaris.ca:10294/7625