Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 8 ( 1992) 59- 72 59

El sevi er Sci ence Publ i sher s B.V., Ams t e r da m

An exami nat i on of st eam- i nj ect i on processes in hori zontal and
vertical wel l s for heavy- oi l recovery
S. Ba~ci and F. Gi i mrah
Petroleum Engineering Department, Middle East Technical University, 06531 Ankara, Turkey
( Recei ved May 15, 1991; revised versi on accepted December 3, 1991 )
ABSTRACT
Ba~ci, S. and Gi i mrah, F., 1992. An exami nat i on of steam-injection processes in horizontal and vertical wells for heavy-
oil recovery. J. Pet. Sci. Eng., 8: 59-72.
Thi s study presents an experi ment al i nvest i gat i on of heavy-oil recovery by steam i nj ect i on in a t hree-di mensi onal model
cont ai ni ng 17 API crude oil. The first part of this paper describes the experi ment al apparatus. Emphasis in this paper is
on t he effect of t he combi nat i on of hori zont al and vert i cal wells on steam-injection efficiency. Four cyclic steam-injection
experi ment s were conducted. Two used a vert i cal well at the center of t he model, and two used a horizontal well scheme,
showing bet t er oil recovery and s t eam/ oi l ratios t han the vert i cal well scheme. Soak t i me as well as the amount of steam
injected per cycle were investigated. For bot h schemes, small slug sizes seem to give initially bet t er st eam/ oi l ratios than
expected, however, cumul at i ve oil recovery for vertical wells do not depend on slug size, while for hori zont al wells, small
slugs followed by larger slugs gave a bet t er recovery by 8% of the original oil-in-place ( OOI P) , compared with large slugs
followed by smaller ones.
St eam-dri ve experi ment s were conduct ed in three different well configurations: ( a) a vertical i nj ect or and horizontal
producer, ( b) hori zont al i nj ect or and producer, and ( c) i nj ect or and producer bot h vertical. The combi nat i on of two
hori zont al wells gave by far t he best results. Temperat ure data show that the use of horizontal wells gives a bet t er sweep
efficiency and reduces gravity overri de of steam.
Thi s paper demonst rat es t he pot ent i al of using horizontal wells for steam injection. In cyclic operations, the use of
hori zont al wells i mpr oved the recovery by 30-50%. In a dri ve process, the recovery using two horizontal wells was 70%
higher t han the vertical wells configuration.
Introducti on
I n Turkey, 80% of t he oil reservoi rs are
heavy-oi l reservoi rs ( Kant ar and Topkaya,
1983 ). These heavy oils are usual l y mobi l e at
reservoi r condi t i ons and mos t can be pro-
duced wi t h pr i mar y pr oduct i on but recovery
is very low. Wat er f l oodi ng is not effect i ve be-
cause t he mobi l i t y rat i o is not favorable.
St eam i nj ect i on by st eam st i mul at i on a n d /
or st eam dri ve is t he mos t wi del y used process
Correspondence to: S. Ba~ci, Pet r ol eum Engi neer i ng De-
par t ment , Mi ddl e East Techni cal Uni ver s i t y, 06531 An-
kara, Turkey.
for enhanced oil recovery. I n heavy-oi l reser-
voirs, a combi nat i on of st eam heat and hori -
zont al wells can be used to i ncrease heavy-oi l
pr oduct i on.
Hor i zont al wells can l ead t o hi gh pr oduc-
t i on rates when used for st eam- i nj ect i on re-
covery of heavy oils. Hor i zont al wells pr oduce
a mor e uni f or m di st r i but i on of t he st eam front
l eadi ng to i mpr oved sweep effi ci ency and oil
recovery.
The obj ect i ve of t he pr esent st udy was to
eval uat e cyclic and cont i nuous st eam-i nj ec-
t i on processes usi ng hor i zont al wells t o pro-
duce heavy oils. In addi t i on, t he st udy exam-
i ned t he effect of well conf i gur at i ons on oil
0920- 4105/ 92/ $05. 00 1992 El sevi er Sci ence Publ i sher s B.V. All ri ght s reserved.
60 s. BAOCi AND F. GOMRAH
pr oduct i on. For cyclic st eam- i nj ect i on tests,
t he effects of cycle peri ods and a mount of in-
j ect ed st eam per cycle on oil pr oduct i on also
was i nvest i gat ed.
Literature review
Hori zont al wells can be used for cyclic st eam
st i mul at i on, cont i nuous st eam dri ve and
steam-assisted gravity drainage process (Joshi,
1987; Butler, 1989).
In cyclic st eam st i mul at i on and st eam dri ve,
even t hough gravi t y drai nage plays a par t in oil
pr oduct i on, most of t he oil pr oduct i on is due
to t he pressure gr adi ent bet ween t he reservoi r
and t he pr oduct i on well. In st eam dri ve, t he
pressure gr adi ent bet ween i nj ect i on and pro-
duct i on wells det er mi nes t he oil pr oduct i on
rates. In t he st eam-assi st ed gravi t y-drai nage
process, t her e is no pressure dr op ot her t han
t he gravi t y head, bet ween i nj ect i on and pro-
duct i on wells. The oil is pr oduced solely by
gravi t y drai nage. The rate of gravi t y drai nage
is enhanced by st eam heat i ng whi ch reduces
t he oil vi scosi t y (But l er and St ephens, 1981 ).
Huygen and Black ( 1982 ) conduct ed scaled
model exper i ment s to i nvest i gat e t he effec-
t i veness of di fferent hor i zont al and vertical
well combi nat i ons for st eamf l oodi ng Atha-
basca oil sand. They concl uded t hat c ommu-
ni cat i on must be est abl i shed bet ween wells for
t he st eamf l ood to be pract i cal and efficient,
and t hat st eamf l oodi ng t hr ough a single hori -
zont al well was a viable strategy to mobi l i ze
bi t umen.
Toma et al. ( 1984) exami ned t he results of
fourt een cyclic st eam- st i mul at i on experi-
ment s carri ed out in a hori zont al -wel l physi cal
model . They concl uded t hat i ncreasi ng t he ax-
ial pressure dr op coul d increase t he pr oduc-
t i on of a hor i zont al well in cyclic operat i ons.
Joshi and Thr el kel d ( 1985) ext ended t he
pr evi ous work on st eam-assi st ed gravi t y
drai nage. They i ncl uded t he effects of well
compl et i on, shale barrier, and l i mi t ed st eam
ent ry on oil recovery. They f ound t hat , for res-
ervoi rs wi t h shale barriers, a vertical i nj ect i on
and hor i zont al pr oduct i on scheme yi el ded
faster oil recovery t han was obt ai ned f r om a
pai r of hor i zont al wells. The presence of shale
barriers resul t ed in hi gher st eam/ oi l ratios and
lower i nst ant aneous oil pr oduct i on rates, but
t he barriers di d not change t he final oil recov-
ery. Li mi t ed st eam ent ry, caused by vertical
fract ures per pendi cul ar to t he hor i zont al well,
l ed to hi gh i ni t i al pr oduct i on rates.
Chang et al. ( 1990) per f or med st eamfl ood-
i ng exper i ment s t hr ough hor i zont al wells to
det er mi ne opt i mum pr oduct i on strategies for
bot t om- wat er reservoirs. The results showed
t hat t he hor i zont al i nj ect or / hor i zont al pro-
ducer combi nat i on r ecover ed 68% of t he oil in
t he presence of 10% t hi ckness of bot t om wat er
zone. In t he absence of bot t om water, t he hor-
i zont al combi nat i on was onl y slightly bet t er
t han t he vertical wells.
Doan et al. ( 1990) devel oped a mat hemat -
ical model to represent flow in t he vi ci ni t y of,
and inside, a hor i zont al wellbore. Thi s model
also was used t o obt ai n t he scaling criteria for
a series of scaled model st eam- i nj ect i on exper-
i ment s. A var i abl e- di amet er hor i zont al well
offered super i or per f or mance when compar ed
to a convent i onal , const ant - di amet er , hori-
zontal well. It coul d lower well-pressure loss by
reduci ng friction i nsi de t he well, and t hus coul d
l ead to hi gher pr oduct i on rate and oil recov-
ery. In addi t i on, a var i abl e- di amet er well re-
sui t ed in a mor e uni f or m growt h of t he st eam
zones, and t hus l ed to bet t er st eam sweep effi-
ci ency and slower br eakt hr ough of st eam.
Sufi ( 1990) pl aced a hor i zont al well at t he
base of a scaled model to heat t he f or mat i on
f r om a vertical i nj ect or to a vertical pr oducer .
Resul t s of i nj ect i ng st eam i nt o t he regi on
heat ed by t he hor i zont al well were di sappoi nt -
ing due to low mass-i nj ect i on rates. Sufi sug-
gest ed a process of al t ernat i ng t he i nj ect i on of
st eam and hot water, to obt ai n a bal ance be-
t ween hi gh mass-i nj ect i on rates and hi gh oil-
pr oduct i on rates. Thi s al l owed t he reservoi r to
be heat ed as hot wat er was i nj ect ed i nt o t he
STEAM-INJECTION PROCESSES IN HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL WELLS FOR HEAVY-OIL RECOVERY 61
reservoi r and oil t o be pr oduced by gravity
drai nage duri ng st eam injection.
Ahner and Sufi (1990) conduct ed a series
of scaled physi cal -model st eamfl ood tests at
several i nj ect i on rates and vari ous flow config-
urat i ons on heavy-oil systems using hori zont al
wells. They observed t hat t he st eam rose to the
top of t he model and swept it from t he top
down (gravity drai nage) even when commu-
ni cat i on bet ween t he i nj ect or and pr oducer is
pr ovi ded by a hori zont al well at the base of t he
model . More efficient sweeping of t he model
occurred when the well spacing was decreased.
The st eam-i nj ect i on rate also i nfl uenced the
wat er / oi l ratio and oi l -product i on rate.
This st udy is not made in a scaled model .
Inst ead we use rocks and fluids typical of a
Turkish heavy-oil reservoi r to investigate,
qualitatively, t he effect of various well-posi-
t i oni ng strategies in a rect angul ar block repre-
senting t he reservoir.
Experimental equipment
E q u i p m e n t d e s c r i p t i o n
Figure 1 is a schemat i c di agram of t he ex-
per i ment al equi pment used in t he study. It in-
cludes the following essential component s:
steel t hree-di mensi onal ( 3- D) model , st eam
generator, pr oduct i on system, oil- and water-
sat urat i on system, oil-level i ndi cat or, t emper-
at ure cont rol and dat a-recordi ng system.
The t hree-di mensi onal model was a rectan-
gular box wi t h 50 50 15 cm 3 di mensi ons.
One face of the model was removabl e and t he
plate to close this end was made from a 1.03-
cm-t hi ck steel plate of 24 59.5 cm2; greater
t han t he model di mensi ons. Rubber sealing
glands were used to prevent leaks.
Figure 2 shows t he i nt ernal features of t he
model , i ncl udi ng the l ocat i on of t her mocou-
pies and well positions. The t hree-di mensi onal
t emper at ur e di st ri but i on is measur ed from 38
Fe-const ant an t hermocoupl es as shown in Fig.
2; 22 t hermocoupl es were l ocat ed at 2.5 cm
di st ance from t he top and from the bot t om of
t he model and 16 cent er t hermocoupl es were
l ocat ed at t he cent er of t he model . This ar-
r angement allowed moni t or i ng of gravity seg-
regat i on of fluids and t emper at ur e gradients
perpendi cul ar to the di rect i on of fluid flow.
13 14 15
. . . . . . : V A C u u M i : ,;;,:: :,,.:.-..'. 3
I 2 ; L
J ' H ~ O . . 2 - - ! _ ! _ ! _ . h . Y ~, ~,
I0 1 2 ~ 3
3
Fig. 1. Schemat i c di agr am of exper i ment al equi pment . Descr i pt i on of exper i ment al equi pment : I. St eam generator, 2.
Bleed system, 3. Pressure gauges, 4. 3-D Model , 5. Thermocoupl es, 6. Back pressure regulator, 7. Gas, st eam and crude
oi l separat or, 8. Condensat e and gas separat or, 9. Gr aduat ed oil i ndi cat or, 10. Ni t rogen supply, 11. Brine cont ai ner, 12.
Crude oil cont ai ner, 13. Temper at ur e cont rol l er, 14. El ect roni c t emper at ur e scanner, 15. Temper at ur e i ndi cat or.
62 S. BA(~Ci AND F. GL)MRAH
T
50cm
i
A
50cm . . . . . ---~
% , , , , . o o o
~b, [] 0
"0,
0 ""O, 0 0
(3 \'q, 0
\),
0 0 x~, O
0 0 0 "0,,
A '
TOP V I E W
Center Top
Thermocoupl es Thermocoupl es
/ \
Thrzr mocou I / - / / - t "
oorts ~ Z J. Z 1 Z L Z J L
: I ' :I : . . : . I]IzscnITmT,~ i
Hori zont al Bot t om
i nj ector / Thermocoupl es
pr oducer
SIDE VIEW
Fi g. 2. S c h e m a t i c d i a g r a m o f t h e r m o c o u p l e p o s i t i o n s .
Well configurations
Fi el d appl i cat i on o f cycl i c and c o nt i nuo us
s t eam- i nj ect i on processes i s pos s i bl e by em-
pl oyi ng di fferent wel l conf i gurat i on s chemes as
s hown i n Fig. 3. Thes e s chemes are:
( A) A vertical s t eam- i nj ect i on wel l and a
hori zont al product i on well: s t eam i s i nj ect ed
f rom a verti cal wel l pl aced on one si de o f the
model , and oi l and wat er are produced f rom
t he di agonal l y pl aced hori zont al wel l .
( B) A hori zont al wel l pair: t wo hori zont al
wel l s are dri l l ed wi t h one pl aced sl i ghtl y above
t he other. St eam i s i nj ect ed i nt o t he t op wel l ,
( S C H E M E . A )
R O D 2 T ' O ? C T ' O N
f -
~ i , , i i i . . . . ii
VERTICAL INJECTION-
HORIZONTAL PRODUCTION
(SCHEME.B)
PRODUCT ION
[ I
HORIZONTAL INJECTION-
HORIZONTAL PRODUCTION
(SCHEME D)
P R O D O C T ,O N t I , N J E T , O N
PRODUCTION
( S C H E M E . C )
PRoDucT~o... N ? J N J _ECTION
~ ] f - -
VERTICAL INJECTION-
VERTICAL PRODUCTION
(SCHEME E)
[ : : : : : : : : ~ ~ I N ~ C T I O N
~RODUCTION
HORIZONTAL INJECTION-
PRODUCTION
Fi g. 3. E x p e r i m e n t a l w e l l c o n f i g u r a t i o n s .
STEAM-INJECTION PROCESSES IN HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL WELLS FOR HEAVY-OIL RECOVERY 63
and oil and wat er are pr oduced from t he bot-
t om well.
( C) A vertical st eam i nj ect i on and a verti-
cal pr oduct i on well: st eam is i nj ect ed from a
vertical well pl aced on one side of t he model
and a pr oduct i on well l ocat ed on t he ot her di-
agonal side of t he model . These first t hree con-
figurations were used for t he st eam-dri ve
experiments.
( D) A vertical i nj ect i on/ pr oduct i on well is
placed at t he cent er of t he model .
( E) A hori zont al i nj ect i on/ pr oduct i on well
is placed diagonally i nt o t he hal f height of t he
model . These two confi gurat i ons were used for
cyclic tests.
Perforat ed 8-mm di amet er, stainless steel
tubing, was used for t he i nj ect i on and produc-
t i on wells. Several 3-mm di amet er holes were
drilled along t he length of t he t ubi ng and were
covered wi t h 100-mesh met al screens to pre-
vent sand product i on.
For cyclic and cont i nuous st eam-i nj ect i on
experi ment s, t he well confi gurat i ons were in-
stalled i n a 3-D model . After installation of t he
top, bot t om and cent er thermocouples, t he box
was filled wi t h 0. 420- 1. 190- mm di amet er
crushed l i mest one whi ch gave porosi t y of
about 38%. Absolute l i qui d permeabi l i t y was
f ound to be 6 darcies. X-ray di ffract i on analy-
sis of l i mest one samples i ndi cat ed a composi -
t i on of 92% calcite, 6.6% dol omi t e and 1.4%
quart z by weight.
Experimental procedure
TABLE 1
Crude oil and porous pack properties
Crude oil Raman
API gravity ( API ) 17
Viscosity (@ 60F, mPa s) 2261
Wat er salinity ( ppm NaC1) 60,000
Porosity (%) 38.0
Permeabi l i t y (darcy) 6.0
Pore vol ume ( cm 3 ) 15,175
Mass of sand (gram) 59,180
Mat ri x Crushed l i mest one
st eam i nj ect i on was started at about 150C in-
j ect i on t emper at ur e in all experiments. Dur i ng
cyclic st eam-i nj ect i on runs, t he graduat ed and
pressuri zed oil-level i ndi cat or was used to
measure the injected steam vol ume during each
cycle. For each cycle, first t he st eam was in-
j ect ed (i nj ect i on per i od) , and t hen t he injec-
t i on well was closed for a soaking period. After
the soaking period, the well was opened to pro-
duct i on. Duri ng the product i on period, t he
constant-pressure reservoir boundar y condi-
t i on was sustained using a graduat ed and pres-
surized oil-level i ndi cat or. When oil produc-
t i on decreased, t he first cycle was t er mi nat ed
and t hen, t he second and t hi r d cycles were
conduct ed.
In cont i nuous st eam-i nj ect i on runs, st eam
was cont i nuousl y i nj ect ed i nt o t he model . The
i nj ect i on and the pr oduct i on pressures were
measur ed and t he pr oduced fluids were col-
l ect ed in graduat ed cylinders whi ch allowed
easy measur ement s of pr oduced vol ume and
t he wat er / oi l ratio.
The model was hori zont al l y posi t i oned and
evacuat ed. It was t hen sat urat ed wi t h a bri ne
cont ai ni ng 60,000 ppm sodi um chl ori de, and
heat ed to about 60 C and t hen t he wat er was
di spl aced wi t h hot oil. The oil and wat er satu-
rations were calculated. Table 1 summari zes
typical crude oil and porous pack properties.
After establishing t he oil and wat er satura-
tions in the sand pack, the steam generat or was
brought to it' s maxi mum t emper at ur e and
Resul t s and di s cus s i on
The following series of cyclic and cont i nu-
ous st eam-i nj ect i on runs were conduct ed in a
3-D model . The first four runs investigated
heavy-oil pr oduct i on with cyclic st eam injec-
t i on t hrough hori zont al and vertical wells. The
second group of runs was conduct ed for t hree
ver t i cal / hor i zont al well confi gurat i ons i n one
quart er of a five spot: vertical pr oducer / ver t i -
64 s. BA(~Ci AND F. GDMRAH
cal injector, vertical i nj ect or / hor i zont al pro-
ducer, and hor i zont al i nj ect or / hor i zont al
producer.
Cyclic st eam injection runs
General observations
Four cyclic st eam- i nj ect i on runs were con-
duct ed to investigate heavy-oil pr oduct i on with
cyclic st eam i nj ect i on t hr ough hor i zont al and
vertical wells (t he experi ment al condi t i ons are
pr esent ed in Tabl e 2 ). Two di fferent well con-
fi gurat i ons are present : scheme D i ncl udes a
vertical well l ocat ed at t he cent er of t he model ,
and scheme E has a hor i zont al well l ocat ed at
t he di agonal of t he model .
Fi gures 4, 5 and 6 show oil and wat er pro-
duct i on rates and pr oduct i on pressure for each
cycle in vertical and hor i zont al well confi gu-
rations. The results of Run 1 are not shown,
however, t he per f or mance of Run 2 was simi-
lar. As seen in t he figures, ma x i mu m oil pro-
duct i on was obt ai ned dur i ng t he second cycle
and t hen decreased dur i ng t he t hi r d cycle. In
hori zont al wells, al t hough t he oi l - pr oduct i on
rates were si mi l ar in t he first and second cycles,
( Runs 3 and 4 ), ma x i mu m oil pr oduct i on was
obt ai ned dur i ng t he first cycle and gradual l y
decreased dur i ng t he second and t hi r d cycles.
The i ncrease in pr oduct i on rate and t he pro-
duct i on per i od decreased after t he first cycle.
The reason for t hi s lower per f or mance was at-
t r i but ed to t he decrease of oil sat ur at i on near
t he wellbore and slow move me nt of t he cr ude
oil f r om unheat ed sect i ons of t he model . An
ot her reason was t hat t he st eam zone accumu-
lates at t he upper par t of t he model where in-
creased heat losses cause t he wat er / oi l ratio to
i ncrease and t he oil pr oduct i on rate to
decrease.
At t he begi nni ng of t he pr oduct i on per i od
(for t he first and second cycles ), t here was less
water pr oduct i on from t he hor i zont al well;
st eam accumul at ed at t he upper part of t he
model and condensed t here dur i ng t he soaki ng
peri od. Thus, t he cr ude oil was swept by con-
densed st eam f r om t he t op downwar d, dur i ng
t he pr oduct i on cycle. Thus gravi t y drai nage is
an i mpor t ant mechani s m in oil pr oduct i on us-
ing hor i zont al wells.
Compari son between the runs
Compar i ng Runs 1 and 2 (Tabl e 3 ), t he du-
r at i on of t he soaki ng per i od for Run 1 was 4.5
TABLE2
Exper i ment al condi t i ons for cyclic-steam i nj ect i on r uns
Run: 1 2 3 4
Cycle: 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
Well conf i gur at i on Vertical
( Scheme D)
S o , ( %) 62. 0
s,~, ( %) 38.0
I nj ect i on t emp. ( C) 148 155
I nj ect i on pressure 314 339
( kPa )
I nj ect i on t i me ( mi n ) 17 15
Soaki ng t i me ( r ai n) 96 10
Pr oduct i on t i me ( r a i n) 52 70
I nj ect i on st eam ( PV 0. 06 0. 20
(ewe))
Cumul at i ve i nj ect ed 0. 06 0. 26
st eam ( PV ( e we ) )
Vertical Hor i zont al
( Scheme D) ( Scheme E)
59.0 62. 0
41. 0 38.0
148 148 153 148 154
445 440 445 415 415
14 24 39 15 18
21 23 29 8 15
54 105 81 89 86
0.11 0.13 0.22 0.11 0.18
0.11 0. 24 0.46 0.11 0.29
Hor i zont al
( Scheme E )
61.0
39.0
t 55 155 148
420 390 389
32 39 30
20 17 15
61 114 62
0.28 0. 24 0.16
0.57 0. 24 0. 40
148
403
2O
20
43
0.07
0. 47
STEAM-INJECTION PROCESSES IN HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL WELLS FOR HEAVY-OIL RECOVERY 6 5
140,
"~130
v
~
120
~ 100
I m
U
n~
0..
~ 6o
I--
,.~ 40
Z
_J
5 20
I RUN NO : 2
SCHEME D
+ i i
,h,, fl
i i I ,
l I i
I i I I ,
i i , i
I
50 100
~2. - ~YCLE
OIL
150 200 250
TIME (rain.)
Fig. 4. Production history f or vertical wel l ( Ru n 2) .
220
180
3.CYCLE
160
n 140
120
100
8O
50
300 350 z, OO
200
W
ne
tf)
t ~
W
ne
Z
o
0
o
140
c_~130
E120
t , l
I.-.-
. <
z
100
8o
6o
~ : 4 o
0
/ I " U N J O
2. CYCLE
OIL
. CYCLE 3. CYCLE
i=: . T E
t ,
50 100 150
Fig. 5. Production history for horizontal well ( Run 3) .
230
210
A
190 n ~
v
I . d
170 :~
150 o..
130 ~
110 0
0_
9O
70
200 250 300 350 400
TIME (rain.)
t i me s hi gher t han for Ru n 2. The i ncreas ed
heat ed v o l ume duri ng t he first cycl e gave a
hi gher oi l pr oduc t i on. Al t hough t he c umul a-
t i ve, i nj ect ed s t eam v o l ume ( c ol d wat er
equi val ent , c we ) o f Run 2 was about 0. 20 pore
v o l ume ( P V) more t han i n Ru n 1, t he c umu-
l ati ve oi l recovery was nearl y t he s ame for bot h
runs. The do mi na nt me c ha ni s m for oi l mobi -
6 6 s . B A ( ~ C i A N D F . G U M R A H
~130
E
ba
~
110
g
o 80
i
o
' J e~ 50
0 200 400
TIME (rain)
1[ RUN NO
O i t ~ C Y C L E 3 CYCLE
. . . . . . . . . L , ,
100 300
210
170 ~
~30 z
9 0 a~
Fig. 6. Pr oduc t i on hi s t or y f or hor i z ont a l wel l ( Ru n 4) .
TABLE 3
Experi ment al results for cyclic st eam-i nj ect i on runs
70 [ o SCHEME D (RUN NO2)
60 t A SCHEME E (RUN NO 3)
o SCHEME E (,RUN NO z,]
50 o
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O0 01 02 03
INJECTED STEAM (PV)
014 05
Fig. 7. A c o mp a r i s o n o f oi l r ecover i es f or wel l conf i gur a-
t i on s chemes D a n d E.
Run:
Cycle:
1 2 3 4
1 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
Well confi gurat i on
Inj ect ed st eam (PV ( cwe) )
Oil recovery (% OOI P)
Cure. oil recovery (% OOI P)
Wat er pr oduct i on ( PV)
St eam/ oi l rat i o ( ml / ml )
Cure WOR ( ml / ml )
vertical vertical
(scheme D) (scheme D)
0.06 0.20 0.11 0.13
14.9 21.0 5.3 22.5
14.9 36.0 5.3 27.8
0.05 0.11 0.033 0.02
1.55 1.09 2.03 1.21
0.55 0.09 1.03 0.21
hori zont al hori zont al
(scheme E) (scheme E)
0.22 0.11 0.18 0.28 0.24 0.16 0.07
8.8 22.1 18.7 6.6 25.3 16.9 12.5
36.6 22.1 40.8 47.4 25.3 42.2 54.7
0.038 0.026 0.061 0.017 0.01 0.01 0.011
1.65 1.18 1.48 2.27 1.05 1.08 1.15
0.65 0.18 0.48 1.27 0.05 0.09 0.15
lization was pressure dri ve in t he vertical wells.
Fi gure 7 shows t he compar i s on of oil recov-
eries for all runs. The oil recoveri es in hori zon-
tal wells were 30- 50% hi gher t han for vertical
wells. Fr om t he compar i son of oil recoveri es
for hori zont al wells ( Runs 3 and 4) , t he hi gh
a mount of i nj ect ed st eam dur i ng t he first cycle
di d not significantly affect oil pr oduct i on. Al-
t hough t he i nj ect ed vol ume of st eam in Run 4
was t wo t i mes hi gher t han in Run 3, oil recov-
ery i ncreased f r om 22.1% to 25.3%. However,
t he i nj ect ed st eam vol ume in Run 4 dur i ng t he
last cycle was about f our t i mes less t han for
Run 3 and t he cumul at i ve oil recovery was
about 15% higher.
Figures 8 and 9 show t he di agonal t emper a-
t ure di st r i but i ons (sect i on AA' i n Fig. 3) of
each cycle at five di fferent t i me peri ods of ver-
tical and hor i zont al well runs ( Runs 2 and 4 ).
As shown in Fig. 8, after t he i nj ect i on of st eam
i nt o t he vertical well, st eam rises t o t he upper
part of t he model . Then t he heat is pr opagat ed
f r om t op to bot t om dur i ng t he st eam-i nj ect i on
peri od. The t emper at ur e gradual l y decreased
at t he t op of t he model due to heat loss dur i ng
t he soaki ng peri od. Dur i ng t hi s peri od, t he
cent er of t he model was cont i nuousl y heat ed
by conduct i on. The syst em t emper at ur e was
r educed and heat flow near t he well was con-
t i nued. In t he hor i zont al well (Fig. 9), t he vi-
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z

STEAM-INJECTION PROCESSES IN HORI ZONTAL AND VERTICAL WELLS FOR HEAVY-OIL RECOVERY
TABLE 4
Experimental conditions and results for continuous steam-injection runs
69
Run 5 Run 6 Run 7
Well configuration (scheme A) (scheme B)
Injection well Vertical Horizontal
Production well Horizontal Horizontal
S w i ( %) 25. 0 25, 0
S~ (%) 75.0 75.0
Steam rate ( ml / mi n ( cwe) ) 38.8 56.5
Steam pressure (kPa) 461 466
Steam temperature ( C) 155 i 56
Oil recovery (% OOIP) 46.0 74.0
Steam/oil ratio (ml/ml) 2.31 1.42
Steam breakthrough (PV) 0.34 0.55
(scheme C)
Vertical
Vertical
21.0
79.0
48.
352
157
49.0
2.08
0.06
l / ~ SCHEME A
90 1 o SCHEME B
8 0 " [] SCHEME C
70
t~
Ixl
4o
3o
lO
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0.0 0.1 02 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
INJECTED STEAM (PV)
Fig. 10. A comparison of oi l recoveries for well configu-
ration schemes A, B and C.
ci ni t y o f t he wel l and t op o f t he mode l were
qui ckl y heat ed due to t he larger cont act area
o f t he hori zont al well.
Continuous st eam injection runs
General observations
Three c ont i nuous s t eam- i nj ect i on runs were
conduct ed us i ng three di f f erent wel l conf i gu-
rati ons. The experi ment al condi t i ons and re-
suits are present ed i n Tabl e 4. The hori zont al
i nj ect or/ hori zont al producer wel l confi gura-
3.0
2.6
E
E2. 2
O
i
tn 1.4
1.0
o SCHEME A
SCHEME B
o SCHEME C
o o O
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i i i i i i i i i
0 . 0 0.1 0 . 2 0.3 0 . 4 0 - 5 0 . 6 0.7 0 . 8 0.9 1.0
INJECTED STEAM ( PV)
Fig. 11. Steam-oil ratios as a functi on of injected steam
for well configuration schemes A, B and C.
t i on gave t he best results for t hi s crude oi l res-
ervoir. Oi l recoveri es were 73% o f OOIP for
hori zont al i nj ect or/ hori zont al producer case,
49% o f OOIP for verti cal i nj ect or/ hori zont al
producer case, and 46% o f OOIP for t he verti-
cal i njector/ verti cal producer when 0. 80 PV o f
st eam were i nj ect ed i nt o t he model . Fi gure 10
shows t he oi l recoveri es for each series o f wel l
conf i gurat i ons. In all hori zont al wel l conf i gu-
rati ons, the i ni t i al oi l product i on i s hi gh and
tapers o f f rapi dl y after 0. 80 PV o f st eam i njec-
t i on. The i ni t i al oi l product i on i n t he vertical
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r

STEAM-INJECTION PROCESSES IN HORI ZONTAL AND VERTICAL WELLS FOR HEAVY-OIL RECOVERY 71
i nj ect or / ver t i cal pr oducer confi gurat i on case
is not as high as the situations i ncorporat i ng
hori zont al wells.
Compari son between the runs
Fr om t he compari son of oil recoveries for
cont i nuous st eam-i nj ect i on Runs 5, 6 and 7,
wi t h cyclic st eam-i nj ect i on test ( Run 4), oil
recovery was 54.7% of OOI P wi t h 0.36 PV of
st eam injection, while oil recoveries were 37%
of OOI P for hori zont al i nj ect or / hor i zont al
producer, 36.5% of OOI P for vertical injec-
t or / hor i zont al producer, and 21% of OOI P for
vertical i nj ect or / ver t i cal pr oducer configura-
t i ons after i nj ect i on of the same vol ume of
steam. As a result, the project life will be longer
for cyclic st eam i nj ect i on t han for cont i nuous
st eam i nj ect i on to produce t he same amount
of crude oil.
Figure 11 shows t he st eam to oil ratios as a
funct i on of i nj ect ed st eam for each series of
well configurations. St eam/ oi l ratios were 1.42
ml / ml for hori zont al i nj ect or / hor i zont al pro-
ducer, 2.31 ml / ml for vertical i nj ect or / hor i -
zontal producer, and 2.08 ml / ml for vertical
i nj ect or / ver t i cal pr oducer well configura-
tions, when 0.80 PV of steam were i nj ect ed into
the model. Therefore, a lower amount of steam
will be requi red to produce the same amount
of crude oil using hori zont al i nj ect or / hor i zon-
tal pr oducer configuration.
Temper at ur e di st ri but i ons t hr oughout t he
runs are present ed in Fig. 12 for t hree di fferent
well configurations. In the vertical i nj ect or /
vertical pr oducer case, the i nj ect ed st eam is
propagat ed t hrough the upper part of t he
model and t he model is heat ed from top to
bot t om. As seen in Fig. 12, t he profiles do not
show significant st eam-overri de effects. Usi ng
hori zont al well injection, t he vi ci ni t y of the
well and t he top of t he model was heat ed mor e
rapidly t han for vertical well i nj ect i on due to
the larger cont act area present ed by t he hori-
zontal well. First, st eam reaches t he upper part
of t he model and t hen heat ed crude oil is dis-
placed by condensed st eam t owards the pro-
duct i on well due to t he pressure difference be-
t ween the injection and product i on well. In the
vertical i nj ect or / hor i zont al pr oducer well
configuration, st eam reaches t he pr oduct i on
well in a short t i me due to t he short di st ance
bet ween i nj ect i on and product i on wells com-
pared to ot her configurations. As a result, t he
area swept by st eam is r educed and oil recov-
ery is also less t han for ot her configurations.
This suggests t hat t he distance bet ween the
vertical i nj ect or and t he hori zont al pr oducer
shoul d be increased, or t he perforations of t he
pr oduct i on well shoul d be concent rat ed at the
outlet of the model .
Conclusions
( 1 ) The following conclusions were drawn
from cyclic st eam-i nj ect i on t est s: (a) Steam
i nj ect i on t hrough a hori zont al well accelerated
oil pr oduct i on from heavy oil. The cumul at i ve
oil recovery was about 30 to 50% higher t han
obt ai ned wi t h i nj ect i on of st eam i nt o a verti-
cal wel l . ( b) The i nj ect ed amount of steam
duri ng t he first cycle i nfl uenced the wat er / oi l
ratio and oil recovery. A 54% increase in in-
j ect ed st eam vol ume decreased t he oil recov-
ery by 36% and i ncreased t he wat er / oi l ratio
by 55% i n vertical well runs. For hori zont al
well runs, a 46% increase in i nj ect ed st eam
vol ume i ncreased the oil recovery by 11% and
t he decreased wat er / oi l ratio by 28%.
( 2) For st eam-dri ve exper i ment s: ( a) Oil
pr oduct i on for t he hori zont al i nj ect or / hor i -
zontal pr oducer well confi gurat i on was hi gher
t han for the ot her well configurations. How-
ever, oil recovery obt ai ned using ei t her verti-
cal i nj ect or / hor i zont al pr oducer or vertical in-
j ect or / ver t i cal pr oducer well configurations
were almost the same. ( b) Steam break-
t hrough for the hori zont al i nj ect or / hor i zont al
pr oducer well confi gurat i on was 0.55 PV of
st eam injection, while it was 0.06 PV of st eam
i nj ect i on in t he vertical i nj ect or/ vert i cal pro-
ducer well confi gurat i on case. (c) A st eam/ oi l
ratio of t he order of 1.40 i ndi cat ed t he high
t her mal efficiency of t he hori zont al i nj ect or /
72 s. BArCi AND F. GOMRAH
hori zontal producer well conf i gurat i on. ( d)
The produced wat er/ oi l ratio and wat er/ oi l
emul si on was increased due to early produc-
ti on of steam i n the vertical i nj ect on/ vert i cal
producer well configuration.
( 3) The laboratory data demonstrated the
success o f steam-i njecti on processes usi ng hor-
i zontal wells for the producti on o f heavy oils.
The primary recovery mechani s m for steam
i njecti on through hori zontal wells appeared to
be a combi nat i on of vi scosi ty reducti on, grav-
ity drainage, and pressure gradient.
Acknowledgements
We wish to thank the Turkish Petroleum
Corporation for providing the crude oil sam-
ple from the Raman field. We also appreciate
the help provided by N.Ocak, H.Acarsoy,
N.Do~,ru and F.Tiiregiin for construction of
equipment and running tests.
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