Improving Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage using Conformance Control Agents: Oil-in-Water Emulsion and Steam Foam

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dc.contributor.advisorHusein, Maen
dc.contributor.advisorBryant, Steven L
dc.contributor.authorChen, Zan
dc.contributor.committeememberDong, Mingzhe
dc.contributor.committeememberHassanzadeh, Hassan
dc.contributor.committeememberLu, Qingye
dc.contributor.committeememberNezhad, Amir S
dc.contributor.committeememberLi, Songyan
dc.dateFall Convocation
dc.date.accessioned2023-04-04T18:17:06Z
dc.date.embargolift2023-04-13
dc.date.issued2022-09-16
dc.description.abstractSteam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) is a commercially successful thermal recovery method for extracting bitumen in the deep oil sands reservoirs. Over the years, many modifications of the original SAGD process have been proposed to improve the performance, yet the results of these modifications remain unsatisfactory. In addition, the efficiency of SAGD is significantly impacted by the intrinsic heterogeneity of the oil sands reservoir. In this study, we investigate the feasibility of improving SAGD with conformance control agents; namely oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion and steam foam. We first studied the effect of oil phase viscosity on the plugging performance of O/W emulsion using sandpack flow test. A comprehensive experimental investigation was then conducted to understand the steam foam propagation and its potential for conformance control. In particular, the effect of liquid drainage on steam foam behavior in the porous media was studied. Finally, numerical investigation was carried out to evaluate FA-SAGD performance under different injection strategies and reservoir heterogeneities. Experimental results show that oil viscosity of O/W emulsion considerably affects its plugging ability. Frictional resistance increases as oil viscosity increases, but the rate of increment tapers down significantly. Stable steam foam can be generated in high permeability sandpacks, while the foam behind the moving foam front quickly coarsens in low permeability packs. The effect of liquid drainage is more significant when weak steam foam is present in the porous media. Successful profile control is achieved in parallel-sandpack flow tests and a detailed multi-cycle diversion of flow is identified. Simulation results further demonstrate that application of steam foam generally improves the energy efficiency and oil production of SAGD. For a homogeneous reservoir, slug injection when the steam chamber is fully developed yields the largest increment in oil recovery relative to SAGD. A 365-day foam slug injection results in 11.2% increment in oil recovery with satisfactory production rate. In contrast, early slug injection after preheating is recommended for heterogeneous reservoir with permeability variation in the horizontal direction. To conclude, O/W emulsion and steam foam can be applied at different stages of SAGD operation and both show great potential for improving SAGD performance.
dc.identifier.citationChen, Z. (2022). Improving Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage using Conformance Control Agents: Oil-in-Water Emulsion and Steam Foam (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.
dc.identifier.urihttps://prism.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/116037
dc.identifier.urihttps://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/dspace/40883
dc.language.isoEnglish
dc.publisher.facultySchulich School of Engineering
dc.subjectSAGD
dc.subjectConformance control
dc.subjectOil-in-water emulsion
dc.subjectsteam Foam
dc.subject.classificationEngineering--Chemical
dc.subject.classificationEngineering--Petroleum
dc.titleImproving Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage using Conformance Control Agents: Oil-in-Water Emulsion and Steam Foam
dc.typedoctoral thesis
thesis.degree.disciplineEngineering – Chemical & Petroleum
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgary
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
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