Surface Network Modelling and Production Optimization for the Implementation of Steam Flooding in a Heavy Oil Reservoir
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70670/sra.v4i2.2396Abstract
Heavy and highly viscous crude oils are not usually produced economically with primary and secondary recovery and are becoming an important ingredient in sustainable hydrocarbon supply. In addition to reservoir-scale modelling, an important part of the field implementation is the design of the surface gathering, injection and processing network (steam enhanced-oil-recovery or EOR), as steam flooding is a thermal enhanced-oil-recovery (EOR) method to enhance oil mobility by injecting steam into the reservoir, which also lowers oil viscosity. Numerous studies are available on the numerical simulation of the steam flooding process itself, but little attention has been paid to the design of the surface network that implements the process. The present study is based on a heavy-oil reservoir that is being treated with steam flooding in order to develop production and injection well network models of the reservoir using the commercial multiphase-flow simulator PIPESIM. This involves nodal analysis of the well and reservoir deliverability before and after steam injection and a sensitivity analysis of tubing diameter, flow-line diameter, choke size, separator pressure, water cut, reservoir temperature, and reservoir pressure to quantify their effects on production. The results indicate that the oil mobility and production rate are significantly enhanced in many cases by steam injection, that an increase in tubing ID, flow-line ID, choke size and reservoir pressure up to a certain limit may also lead to production rate increase, but that separator pressure has little effect on production rate, and that production rate decreases with increasing water cut up to some maximum value. The optimum set of parameters is then used to produce a network configuration that increases production rate compared to the base. The results are used as a practical guideline for the design of surface facilities for steam-flooding projects in similar heavy-oil reservoirs with economic requirements.
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