Horizontal well in-situ heating productivity and optimization for heavy oil reservoirs

Abstract

Se validó un modelo desarrollado en CMG con los resultados obtenidos en un pozo vertical de crudo pesado en Frog Lake, Canadá. Después se realizó la simulación de un pozo horizontal de crudo pesado en un campo en la cuenca del VMM con diferentes ubicaciones de calentadores en la sección horizontal, para determinar la mejor posición de los calentadores. Finalmente, con base en los resultados de la simulación, se evaluaron económicamente los diferentes escenarios y se realizó el análisis ambiental del proyecto.

In this project, the feasibility of using electrical downhole heaters in various scenarios for a Colombian heavy oil reservoir is analyzed. The intention is to explore if this type of downhole devices are suitable to enhance the oil recoveries in economically sound scenarios. This project analyzes the effects of downhole heaters as a stimulation method through the use of a numerical model using STARS thermal modeling of CMG software. The study has been divided in three parts. The first part relates to the use of downhole heaters, stimulating one horizontal well in the reservoir using three different scenarios positioning the heaters in the toe, mid and the heel. The second one evaluates basic economic analyses performed using estimated capital and operating expenses with oil production curves from each case, to assist in the comparison of their worth using the NPV (net present value). The third part includes the relevance of an environmental matrix of risk and impacts for the project.