Mukhaizna Steam Injectors Thermal Efficiency & Insulated tubing Pilot Evaluation

Abstract

Abstract Occidental operates a steam flood project in Mukhaizna which is a giant deep heavy oil field in south Oman. Wellbore heat losses from steam injectors is one of the challenges that degrades the steam flood thermal efficiency for a deep reservoir. In addition, wellbore heat losses increase the thermal stress on the casing and lead to wellbore damage. In aim to reduce wellbore heat losses, insulated tubing was introduced and a Pilot was carried out to select the optimum insulated tubing product in the market. Ten Injectors were instrumented and completed with insulated tubing from four different vendors in addition to two bare strings used as a reference base line. Data were collected and evaluated in eight months period. Field thermal conductivity was obtained for the tested products using DTS temperature data from the outermost casing, the Thermocouples data from the tubing outer wall and temperature logs during injection in aid of a calibrated wellbore model. The conducted analysis and the field observations were sufficient to resolve the thermal performance between the tested products. This paper describes the Pilot configuration and the evaluation methodology. Analysis output and field observations are summarized and presented in addition to the raw data collected from the instruments and temperature logs.