Energy Recovery from Oil Sands Reservoirs

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dc.contributor.advisorGates, Ian Donald
dc.contributor.authorWang, Jingyi
dc.contributor.committeememberChen, Shengnan
dc.contributor.committeememberHu, Jinguang
dc.contributor.committeememberHubbard, Stephen M.
dc.contributor.committeememberZeng, Fanhua
dc.date2021-06
dc.date.accessioned2021-01-11T15:07:23Z
dc.date.available2021-01-11T15:07:23Z
dc.date.issued2021-01-04
dc.description.abstractAlberta's oil sands are the third largest proven crude oil reserve in the world, after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. The proven reserve is ~165.4 billion barrels. At original reservoir conditions, for in-situ methods, the bitumen is too viscous to extract directly with viscosities of the order of hundreds of thousands to millions of centipoise. To extract bitumen via in-situ recovery processes, the bitumen's viscosity must be lowered to less than 20 cP. In all current commercial oil sands recovery processes, this is done by injected high pressure and temperature saturated steam into the reservoir. One such process, Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD), has been proven to produce bitumen, but due to steam generation has high emissions intensity with large energy requirements. The research presented here studied the SAGD process from multiple angles. The first study is focused on the edge of steam chamber where both SAGD and Steam and Gas Push (SAGP) processes were compared to understand the impact of non-condensable gas on heat transport at the edge of the chamber. The second approach uses a detailed compositional model to exam the time scales for steam and bitumen flow within the depletion chamber. The approach used for multiple steam and multiple bitumen components is novel. The third study examined the instantaneous steam-to-oil ratio behavior when the steam chamber was exposed to different reservoir features. The last study explored the recovery of heat energy from post-SAGD chambers. The analysis reveals the following results. 1. non-condensable gas does improve the thermal efficiency of SAGD, but it changes the behaviour of the edge of the chamber by creating a more extensive depletion zone at the edge of the chamber. 2. the time scales for steam flow and bitumen mobilization, drainage, and production can be weeks to months to years depending on the stage of the process. This speaks to the 'thermal momentum' that is established in the reservoir during the process. 3. The SOR, in particular, the instantaneous SOR provides a signal that can be used to identify reservoir features. This could be used with multiple SAGD well pairs to determine reservoir features across pads. 4. A large fraction of the injected heat energy in the reservoir remains in the reservoir rock (sand grains) and the overburden and understrata. However, it is possible to extract a significant fraction of the energy remaining in the reservoir after SAGD operations have finished. This should be explored in the field since this provides a means to raise the overall energy efficiency of SAGD.en_US
dc.identifier.citationWang, J. (2021). Energy Recovery from Oil Sands Reservoirs (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/38540
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/112959
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisher.facultySchulich School of Engineeringen_US
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.en_US
dc.subjectsteam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD)en_US
dc.subjectnon-condensable gas (NCG)en_US
dc.subjectsteam and gas push (SAGP)en_US
dc.subjectoil sandsen_US
dc.subjecttime scalesen_US
dc.subjectsteam-to-oil ratioen_US
dc.subjectprocess efficiencyen_US
dc.subjectthermal efficiencyen_US
dc.subjectthermal energy recoveryen_US
dc.subjectheat recoveryen_US
dc.subjectenergy efficiencyen_US
dc.subjectinstantaneous SOR (iSOR)en_US
dc.subjectfinger printen_US
dc.subject.classificationEngineering--Petroleumen_US
dc.titleEnergy Recovery from Oil Sands Reservoirsen_US
dc.typedoctoral thesisen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineEngineering – Chemical & Petroleumen_US
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgaryen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)en_US
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrueen_US
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