Use of reservoir simulation to estimate drainage area and recovery factor of an in-situ combustion project in a complex water-drive heavy oil reservoir
Por:
Gonzalez L., Ferrer J., Fuenmayor M., Castillo N., Gil E., Farouq Ali S.M.
Publicada:
1 ene 2014
Resumen:
In-situ combustion (ISC) is being carricd out in the Quifa heavy oil reservoir in Colombia, employing four vertical inner wells and four deviated outer wells (inverted nine-spot pattern). Additionally there arc four horizontal wells surrounding the pattern, which started producing one year before the combustion project was initiated. In order to evaluate the project performance key parameters, such as volumetric sweep efficiency and recovery factor must be estimated. Therefore, it is important to have reliable values of drainage area and oil in-place volumes since they are basics for the calculations. Given the complex nature of this reservoir, with a strong water drive, the estimation of the drainage area, oil in place and the recovery factor posed a major challenge. The reservoir is characterized by abrupt permeability and oil saturation changes, resulting in water channeling and well interference. This paper presents the methodology used to obtain the drainage area and current recover)' factor of the ISC pilot project by using numerical reservoir simulation. It comprises the generation of oil drainage maps and cross-plots of what we called "Oil Displaced by Neighboring Wells. ODNW" as a function of time. This approach is more accurate than analytical methods for such complex reservoirs since those methods are based on ideal homogeneous reservoir conditions that assume uniform fluid displacement and a symmetrical advance of the combustion front. Results are presented for the oil in place, the drainage area, and the recovery factor at one year of air injection. These results are compared with those derived from analytical methods. The methodology was designed to be readily applicable to similar heavy oil reservoirs worldwide. Copyright © (2014) by the Society of Petroleum Engineers All rights reserved.
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