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Time scales for steam injection and bitumen production in steam-assisted gravity drainage

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  • Wang, Jingyi
  • Gates, Ian D.

Abstract

Despite technical and economic success of Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), improvements of its thermal efficiency as reflected by the steam-to-oil ratio (SOR) present challenges. Given that the SOR is a measure of the ratio of the energy invested to the energy (chemical energy in oil) produced and emissions intensity, there is strong motivation to reduce the SOR since the lower the SOR, the lower is the energy invested and emissions produced per unit oil produced. However, there appears to be few directions for modifying SAGD to improve the SOR by adjusting the steam injection strategy or fluid production strategy alone. In this research, multiple steam components and multiple bitumen components are used in a thermal reservoir simulation model to understand the time scales of steam flow and bitumen mobilization, drainage, and production. The results reveal that immediate bitumen response is observed near the well and in the steam-trap liquid pool above the production well whereas the time scale between steam stimulation and bitumen response can be as high as hundreds of days. This brings into question the meaningfulness of the steam-to-oil ratio as a control variable for behaviours far from the well pair.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Jingyi & Gates, Ian D., 2021. "Time scales for steam injection and bitumen production in steam-assisted gravity drainage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:227:y:2021:i:c:s0360544221006794
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2021.120430
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Austin-Adigio, Maureen & Gates, Ian, 2019. "Non-condensable gas Co-Injection with steam for oil sands recovery," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 736-746.
    2. Diego Manfre Jaimes & Ian D. Gates & Matthew Clarke, 2019. "Reducing the Energy and Steam Consumption of SAGD Through Cyclic Solvent Co-Injection," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-28, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Alade, Olalekan S. & Mahmoud, Mohamed & Al Shehri, Dhafer & Mokheimer, Esmail M.A. & Sasaki, Kyuro & Ohashi, Ryo & Kamal, Muhammad Shahzad & Muhammad, Isah & Al-Nakhli, Ayman, 2022. "Experimental and numerical studies on production scheme to improve energy efficiency of bitumen production through insitu oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 244(PA).
    2. Li, Yujie & Zhai, Cheng & Sun, Yong & Xu, Jizhao & Yu, Xu & Huang, Ting, 2023. "Characterizing water vapor adsorption on coal by nuclear magnetic resonance: Influence of coal pore structure and surface properties," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    3. Li, Hui & Han, De-hua & Sun, Min & Yuan, Hemin & Gao, Jinghuai, 2022. "An experimental investigation on effects of saturation levels and fluid types on elastic properties of bitumen-saturated sands at elevated temperatures," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PC).
    4. Yao, Yue & Sun, Deqiang & Xu, Jin-Hua & Wang, Bin & Peng, Guohong & Sun, Bingmei, 2023. "Evaluation of enhanced oil recovery methods for mature continental heavy oil fields in China based on geology, technology and sustainability criteria," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(PB).

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