Modeling the Oil Bank Formation during Steam Flood

Abstract

Abstract The development of unconventional oil resources is becoming important factor to meet the increase of world oil demand. One of these unconventional resources is heavy oil deposits. Producing this high viscosity oil is complex and challenging. These resources usually require thermal recovery techniques in which heat is introduced into the reservoir to lower the oil viscosity. Steam flood is a popular thermal recovery method. Understanding the mechanism of steam injection and heat utilization improves the efficiency of heavy oil recovery. In this work, steam flood is applied to Middle Eastern heavy reservoir, and the advancement of steam zone and formation of oil bank ahead of it are investigated and modeled. First, experimental work was done to conduct the steam injection to unconsolidated core sample saturated with heavy oil. X-ray computed tomography (CT) was used during the experiment. The experimental data and X-ray CT measurements were used as input data to the numerical simulation to further understand the development and formation of the oil bank as steam is injected. The results show that the size of oil bank and its location from inlet side depend on several parameters such as initial oil viscosity and steam quality. This study provides valuable information on the development of oil bank which help in quantifying the oil saturation distribution during steam flood.