TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

Heavy Oil

Recently, I served as cochairperson of the SPE Forum on “Enhanced Oil Tony Kovscek, SPE, is an associate
Recovery—What’s Next?” The consensus of attendees was that while there is some professor of energy-resources engineering
promising technology, no game-changing enhanced-oil-recovery (EOR) technolo- at Stanford University, where he directs
gies appeared to be on the immediate horizon. In the area of heavy hydrocarbons, the heavy-oil and unconventional
on the other hand, it was expressed that in-situ upgrading of resources such as
heavy oil, tar, and oil shale could be a game changer if more-vigorous work was resources group (SUPRI-A). Kovscek
conducted in the area of upgrading. The dawn for surface upgrading of bitumen holds BS and PhD degrees from the
appears to have occurred. University of Washington and University
Various possibilities for in-situ upgrading were discussed in some detail includ- of California at Berkeley, respectively. He
ing electrical heating to create an upgrader and refinery-in-the-ground for oil shale; is the Stanford University SPE Student
solvents tailored to precipitate the asphaltene fractions of crude oil; and in-situ
Chapter faculty adviser and serves on
combustion, in which the heaviest fractions of the crude are consumed selectively
as fuel for combustion, thereby increasing the API gravity of the oil. A common the Continuing Education Committee,
theme is that in-situ upgrading is a complex process needing much more R&D. the JPT Editorial Committee, and the
The conversion of trillions of barrels of oil equivalent to a lighter, sweeter syn- Western Regional Meeting Program
thetic crude oil is an exhilarating thought, especially given the possibility that such Committee. Kovscek is review chairperson
upgrading can be accomplished in a fashion that is close to being environmentally of the SPEREE (RE) Editorial Review
benign if it is carried out in situ with geological sequestration of any carbon dioxide
created during upgrading. Considering the analogous time frame for implementa- Committee. He received the 2005 SPE
tion of the markedly simpler process of steamdrive for EOR, however, provides a Western North America Region Technical
sobering perspective. From the initial engineering report to commencement of a Achievement Award and the 2006 SPE
commercial project at Mt. Poso, a total of 20 years elapsed. Distinguished Achievement Award for
Papers for this feature span many aspects related to heavy hydrocarbons includ- Petroleum Engineering Faculty.
ing in-situ combustion, steam injection, optimization of thermal-recovery pro-
cesses, chemical-based EOR for heavy oil, as well as artificial lift. Many questions
linger for me regarding in-situ upgrading. Is an extended R&D time frame realistic
today? If a significant portion of the technical workforce is poised to retire within
a decade, where/when will the future workforce be trained for such an enormous
challenge and who will be their mentors? Ultimately, could we extract the energy
in the form of clean-burning hydrogen, or preferably methane, because of the sig-
nificant natural-gas infrastructure already in place? JPT

Heavy Oil additional reading available

at the SPE eLibrary: www.spe.org

SPE 110479 • “World’s First Metal PCP SAGD Field Test Shows Promising
Artificial-Lift Technology for Heavy-Oil Hot Production: Joslyn Field Case” by
Jean-Louis Beauquin, Total, et al.
SPE 107949 • “Optimization of Cyclic Steam Stimulation Under Uncertainty” by
K. Revana, Halliburton, et al.
SPE 106908 • “Applicability of Water-Shutoff Treatment for Horizontal Wells in
Heavy-Oil Reservoirs” by Francesco Verre, Imperial College, London, et al.

84 JPT • MARCH 2008

HEAVY OIL
Optimize Cyclic Steam Stimulation
Though Experimental Design
Peace River Carmon Creek is an ultra-
heavy-oil lease in northwestern Alberta,
Canada, holding nearly 1.27×109 m3
of 7°API oil. The Carmon Creek Project
targets approximately half of that oil for
development by cyclic steam stimula-
tion (CSS). There are plans for a signifi-
cant increase in oil production over the
next 5 years. The purpose of this study
was to optimize CSS well configuration
and steaming strategy.
Introduction
Various thermal-recovery schemes have
been piloted at Peace River. At pres-
ent, CSS is used to extract the oil, most
recently with closely spaced multilateral
horizontal wells drilled from a central
surface pad.
The CSS target is the Bluesky for-
mation, an approximately 30-m-thick
semiconsolidated-sand layer buried
at a depth of approximately 600 m
and characterized by a wide range
of reservoir properties. These vary-
ing reservoir features are expected to
result in different optimum CSS-well
configurations and steaming strategies
for each geologically unique portion of
the field.
Geological Models
Full-Field Model. The Bluesky reser-
voir in the Carmon Creek Project area
generally is classified into two intervals,
This article, written by Assistant
Technology Editor Karen Bybee, con-
tains highlights of paper SPE 109826,
“Peace River Carmon Creek Project—
Optimization of Cyclic Steam Stimulation
Through Experimental Design,” by P.F.
Koci, SPE, and J.G. Mohiddin, SPE,
Shell International E&P, prepared for the
2007 SPE Annual Technical Conference
and Exhibition, Anaheim, California, 11–
14 November. The paper has not been
peer reviewed.
For a limited time, the full-length paper is available free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt.
JPT • MARCH 2008
a poorer-quality estuarine zone with
an order of magnitude lower vertical-/
horizontal-permeability ratio compared
to the underlying better-quality del-
taic zone. This generalization does not
apply to the entire Peace River field. In
some parts of the field, the estuarine
zone is of better quality than the deltaic
zone. Lower portions of the deltaic zone
typically have higher water saturation,
termed “basal water zone” (BWZ). The
total gross reservoir thickness and the
BWZ thickness vary greatly across the
field. Bitumen viscosity also is highly
variable, both areally and vertically,
throughout the Bluesky reservoir.
A full-field static reservoir model
was built covering an area of approxi-
mately 2000 km2 and including more
than 400 wells. The main objective
was to capture and characterize the
regional reservoir differences by use of
a 250×250-m coarse areal grid with
0.5-m vertical resolution.
Area Models. The full-field static
model was divided into six distinct
geological areas, and a relatively fine-
grid (25×25 m) sector model was con-
structed for each of these areas.
Areas 1 and 2, characterized by high
permeability, good seals, thick pay,
high oil concentration, high hot-oil
mobility, and either an insignificant or
no BWZ, have the most favorable reser-
voir properties for CSS.
Area 3 is poorer than Areas 1 and
2 because of the thicker BWZ and
somewhat higher oil viscosity (lower
hot-oil mobility).
Area 4 can be characterized by thin
pay, top-gas presence, and very high oil
viscosity. This area is likely to be very
marginal for CSS application.
The estuarine zone in Area 5 is more
permeable than the deltaic. The oil
viscosity of Area 5 is the highest among
the six areas of Peace River.
Area 6 appears to be the poorest for
CSS application. It is thin, with very
high oil viscosity and a very thick BWZ.
Reference-Case CSS Design
The reference-case CSS well configu-
ration and steaming strategy consists
of 500-m horizontal wells drilled on
150-m spacing. There are 16 such wells
drilled into a standard subsurface “pad”
measuring 1300×1200 m. Steam-injec-
tion rate is 1000 tons/d per well. The
first-cycle steam-injection volume
(steam slug) is 30 000 tons, and the
length of the first production cycle is
247 days. The steam slugs increase
in subsequent cycles. The production-
period lengths after the first cycle are
equal to 12.4 days per 1000 tons of
steam injected in that cycle. The wells
are drilled 5 m above the reservoir base
along their entire horizontal trajectory.
CSS-Concept-Selection Workflow
Previous Peace River CSS history-
matching work lead to development
of a single, consistent physical model,
believed to be applicable to all areas
of Peace River. On the basis of field
observations of initial geomechanical
reservoir conditions, a steam-induced
fracture is most likely to be initiated
vertically at the heel, transforming to
a horizontal fracture when it reaches
the top of the reservoir. This physical
model and fracture realization were
used in all reservoir models in this
study. A thermal reservoir simulator
was used.
A unique modeling workflow, split
into the following three phases, was
developed to determine the optimum
well configuration and steaming strat-
egy for each geological area.
1. The initial phase explored the effect
of grid size and accuracy. Comparison
between horizontal and vertical CSS
wells also was investigated.
85
 2. The CSS-optimization phase was a
parametric study aimed at selecting the
optimum well-design and -position and
steaming-strategy combination for each
of the geological areas identified.
3. In the third phase, sensitivities
with respect to reservoir properties
were investigated for each of the geo-
logical areas. This exercise also gener-
ated the uncertainty range in produc-
tion forecasts for each area.
Initial Modeling
Model Size. From the beginning, it was
anticipated that many simulation runs
would have to be made. Therefore, it
was highly desired to produce the fast-
est (and hence smallest) possible model
without compromising the results.
Various “elements-of-symmetry” mod-
els were carved from the standard-subsur-
face-pad area. The “quarter-pad,” “eighth-
pad,” “three half-well,” and upscaled
“three half-well” element-of-symmetry
models provided approximately the same
results, but the latter model ran signif-
icantly faster. Therefore, the optimum
model chosen was the three half-well
element-of-symmetry model, precisely
3/32 of the standard subsurface pad.
Fracture-Grid Dimensions. The size
of grid in which a fracture is located
can have a large effect on simulation
results. Extensive fracture-grid sensi-
tivity was performed for fracture-grid
thickness, ranging from 0.1 to 15 m for
a vertical fracture and from 0.1 to 1.5 m
for a horizontal fracture. The optimum
solution appeared to be a combination
of a 5-m vertical-fracture-grid thick-
ness and 1.5-m horizontal-fracture-grid
thickness. This selection made run
times manageable.
CSS-Design Optimization
CSS-Design Parameters. Following
the exclusion of vertical wells, two well
types were considered, horizontal and
the upward-trending deviated well. The
upward-trending deviated well was de-
signed and piloted to overcome poor ver-
tical permeability inhibiting steam from
rising toward the top of the reservoir.
The five CSS-design parameters
considered in the experimental design
were: (1) steam-slug-size factor, which
was the volume of steam injected dur-
ing the first cycle, (2) pore volume (PV)
injected, (3) horizontal-well elevation
above base reservoir, (4) well spacing,
and (5) production-cycle length.
86
Initial screening of a few row-steam-
ing strategies did not indicate marked
differences in performance; hence, the
reference-case assumption of “double-
row overlap” also was not altered.
Cumulative Discounted Net Oil
(CDNO). The optimization process
was based primarily on maximizing the
CDNO obtained from the standard sub-
surface CSS pad. This output parameter
can be considered as an approximation to
net present value before taxes (NPVBT),
if well costs or facilities costs or number
of wells are not changing. It was chosen
over recovery factor (RF) and cumula-
tive oil/steam ratio (COSR) because nei-
ther of these output measures account
for the early acceleration component.
Experimental Design. To optimize
these multiple input parameters simul-
taneously with a minimum number of
simulation runs, experimental-design
(ED) software was used to design the
input-parameter combinations to be sim-
ulated. Second-order ED models with
input-parameter interactions were select-
ed because nonlinear relationships and
interactions among the various parame-
ters were expected. The input parameters
and the simulated CDNO responses were
entered into the ED software, and the
standard least-squares multiple-regres-
sion analysis was applied to obtain the
CDNO-response-surface coefficients.
Well-Spacing Optimization. Well cost
and oil price have to be included if well-
spacing optimization is desired. This
was done in an approximate manner
by calculating CDNO for a standard-
subsurface-pad area, multiplying it by
an oil price, and subtracting the cost
of wells located in the same subsurface
area to obtain approximate NPVBT.
In addition, because well spacing
implies partial acceleration of oil produc-
tion, a range of discount rates was used to
reach a proper decision on optimum well
spacing. This entire process was repeated
for each of the six geological areas.
Optimum CSS Design. An extrapola-
tion of the various simulation results
indicated that the optimum develop-
ment concept was
• Horizontal wells in all areas.
• Well spacing of 75 m per zone in all
areas, except for the poorest area with
thin pay and thick BWZ where 100-m
spacing appears to be better.
• Simultaneous development of the
estuarine and deltaic zones in most
areas except for areas with very thick
BWZ or top gas.
Uncertainty Analysis
Once the optimum well configuration
and steaming strategy for each of the six
geological areas were chosen, the last
phase involved quantifying the effect of
key uncertainties and developing deter-
ministic P15, P50, and P85 realizations.
Uncertainties and Ranges. All static
and dynamic parameters were varied
simultaneously to prevent probabilistic
“double-dipping.” This can occur when
the RF is a function of the oil-in-place
(OIP) volume. The RF-vs.-original-OIP
relationship is not very strong in typi-
cal black-oil models but can be very
strong in thermally enhanced oil-recov-
ery projects.
The ED software was used again to
provide ED for analyzing the uncertain-
ties. Linear ED models with parameter
interactions were used. The effect of
bitumen-viscosity uncertainty over-
whelms that of all remaining param-
eters. This observation is consistent
across all six areas, indicating the need
for additional viscosity-data collection
to narrow this wide uncertainty range.
Probabilistic Forecasts. The uncer-
tainty-analysis CDNO-response-surface
coefficients were used in Monte Carlo
simulations to obtain the full range
of possible realizations. The resulting
individual realizations were sorted in
ascending CDNO order and plotted.
The scatter in RF and COSR plots
implies that a number of individual
Monte Carlo runs, with radically differ-
ent input-parameter combinations, RFs,
and COSRs, can yield the same CDNO.
The process of picking deterministic
P15, P50, and P85 cases (on the basis
of CDNO probability distribution func-
tions) for each area consisted of choos-
ing those Monte-Carlo-run configura-
tions that had both RF and COSR close
to a 20-run average near the P15, P50,
and P85 CDNO values.
Once the deterministic P15, P50, and
P85 cases were selected for each area,
actual simulations were performed and
the results plotted in the form of RF vs.
PV of steam injected. Good agreement
is observed between the simulation
results and existing empirical forecasts
for the reference-case design. JPT
JPT • MARCH 2008
087_BHCentri_jpt.qxd 2/13/08 14:08 Page 21
HEAVY OIL

Combustion-Tube Experiments Show Heavy-Oil-Production

Increase With Addition of Catalyst

A catalyst was evaluated to aid heavy-

oil combustion. The underlying objec-
tive is to increase the oil mobility inside
the reservoir by use of the catalyst
during combustion. The catalyst was
evaluated in a combustion tube with
12.5°API heavy oil from the Gulf of
Mexico (GOM). Use of this organo-
metallic catalyst at low concentrations
potentially can upgrade oil properties
in situ, avoiding the cost of surface
facilities to achieve the same goal.

Introduction
Reservoir exploitation is moving toward
large reserves of heavy crude oil.
Producing, transporting, and marketing
this heavy oil presents many problems,
including the inability of most refiner-
ies to accept heavy crude oils. Heavy
crude oils could be more acceptable if
they can be upgraded before being sent
to refineries. In-situ combustion is one
technique used to reduce oil viscosity.
When combustion is combined with
the use of a catalyst, the process is called
in-situ catalytic upgrading.
Comprehensive studies of enhancing
the combustion process by addition of
metallic salts have shown that for some
This article, written by Assistant Tech-
nology Editor Karen Bybee, contains
highlights of paper SPE 107946,
“Increase Heavy-Oil Production in
Combustion-Tube Experiments Through
the Use of Catalyst,” by M.A. Ramirez-
Garnica, Instituto Mexicano del
Petróleo; D.D. Mamora, SPE, Texas
A&M U.; H.R. Nares and P. Schacht-
Hernández, Instituto Mexicano del
Petróleo; A.A. Mohammad, Texas
A&M U.; and M.C. Cabrera-Reyes,
Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo, pre-
pared for the 2007 SPE Latin American
and Caribbean Petroleum Engineering
Conference, Buenos Aires, 15–18 April.
The paper has not been peer reviewed.
Fig. 1—Cumulative oil production in combustion-tube experiments.
crude oils there is a favorable modifi-
cation of the reaction kinetics. Salts,
such as tin chloride or ferric nitrate,
promote combustion of light oils,
producing more-uniform combustion
that occurs at a higher temperature.
However, in another study, it was not
possible to obtain sustained combus-
tion of light oil without the addition
of metallic salts. The full-length paper
describes a combustion experiment
using a combination of organometallic
catalyst derived from either acetylace-
tonate or alkylhexanoate compounds
and an air-injection system in a com-
bustion tube. The hydrocarbon used
was a 12.5°API heavy crude oil from
the GOM. The catalyst was mixed
with the heavy oil before the experi-
ment. The objective of this study was
to determine if this organometallic
catalyst at low concentrations is able to
improve heavy-oil recovery.
Experimental Method
The experimental setup comprised six
main parts: fluid-injection system, com-
bustion tube, fluid-production system,
gas chromatograph, wet-test-meter sys-
tem, and a data-recording system.
Fluid-Injection System. The fluid-
injection system consists of two parts,
nitrogen injection and air injection.
Both parts are independent (through
1/4-in. tubing) and are opened or closed
to the system with valves in the control
panel. The injected-nitrogen or -air rate
is controlled by a mass-flow controller,
installed before the injection pressure

For a limited time, the full-length paper is available free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt.

88 JPT • MARCH 2008

transducer. The 1/4-in. tubing line is
connected with a fitting to a 1/8-in.
tubing line, which is the gas inlet to the
combustion tube.
Nitrogen Injection. Nitrogen is used
to flush the system before any com-
bustion run. Nitrogen also is used to
pressurize the combustion tube. At the
end of the combustion run, nitrogen is
injected into the system to flush and
cool the tube.
Air Injection. Air refers to the nor-
mal mixture of oxygen and nitrogen
in the atmosphere. Air is injected at
a constant 3-L/min rate throughout
the combustion run. A cylinder con-
taining air is connected to the injec-
tion system. When the temperature at
the clean sand/mixture pack interface
reaches approximately 570°F, air is
allowed to flow into the combustion
tube to begin ignition and to maintain
combustion. Air injection will continue
until the front reaches the bottom of
the combustion tube (no more liquids
are produced). At this time, injection is
switched to nitrogen.
Combustion Tube. The combustion
tube is a stainless-steel cylinder with a
3-in. external diameter and a 401/8-in.
length. Sharp-edged flanges seal the
ends of the cell to copper gaskets.
The tube has an assembly that allows
the introduction of two thermowells.
Another tube was soldered off-center
on the top flange to allow air injection
into the combustion tube through a
reduction fitting to an inlet. There is
tubing soldered to the bottom flange
of the combustion tube to allow the
collection of fluids in the produc-
tion system.
The combustion tube is placed inside
a vacuum jacket. A connection installed
at the top flange of the jacket provides
electric current to the resistance igniter.
The vacuum jacket is isolated from the
combustion cell with Teflon ferrules
installed in both flange ends. The exte-
rior of the vacuum jacket is an alumi-
num cover with aluminum end caps.
The center of the jacket is connected
to a swivel that allows jacket rotation
from horizontal to vertical position.
One set of eight fixed J-type thermo-
couples runs through the thermowell
end, and a set of six movable J-type
thermocouples runs through the other
end. All thermocouples used were
0.002 in. thick. Each one of the ther-
mocouples is connected to a terminal
JPT • MARCH 2008
Fig. 2—Produced-oil volume vs. time.
to display or register its signal to the
data logger and to the control panel and
to the PC monitor.
Fluid-Production System. A back-
pressure regulator maintains the outlet
pressure of the combustion tube at a
constant predetermined level during
the experiment. The liquids leaving the
combustion tube pass through a two-
stage separation where they are col-
lected at the production outlet. Gases
pass through a condenser kept at low
temperature to recover any volume
of liquid in this stream. Gases flow-
ing toward the gas chromatograph are
scrubbed of acid before entering the
next system.
Gas Chromatograph and Wet-Test-
Meter System. A small fraction of
produced gas is injected into a gas
chromatograph where the gas is ana-
lyzed for carbon dioxide (CO2), oxygen
(O2), nitrogen, and carbon monoxide
(CO) every 5 minutes. A wet-test meter
installed before the gas chromatograph
allows measurement of the produced
combustion gases, which is recorded
in a PC.
Experimental Procedure. Dolomitized
carbonate previously triturated at a
particle size of 600 to 850 μm was
used as a porous medium. A mixture
of this triturated rock, heavy crude
oil, and distilled water was prepared
in a large mixing bowl with concen-
trations of 88.87, 5.38, and 5.75%,
respectively. For the experiment with
catalyst, the catalyst was mixed homo-
geneously with the heavy crude oil
before the experiment.
Approximately 200 g of mixture
was introduced into the tube once the
combustion tube was fastened safely
in a vertical position. A heavy metal
plunger that passed through the ther-
mowells was used to pack the sample
into the tube. The process of adding
sample and packing was repeated until
the tube was filled to approximately
4 in. from the top. Approximately
5 mL of linseed oil was placed on the
top of the sample to begin the igni-
tion. The combustion tube then was
filled to the top with clean sand. The
mixture remaining in the large mix-
ing bowl was weighed to determine
the amount of mixture placed in the
combustion tube.
The top flange of the combustion
tube was installed, and the flange bolts
were fastened. Nitrogen was intro-
duced at the injection inlet and with
the outlet of the combustion tube
plugged, the cell was pressure tested
for leaks at 400 psi for 2 hours. Once
the pressure test was performed suc-
cessfully, the outlet plug of the com-
bustion cell was slowly opened and
the pressure in the tube decreased
to atmospheric.
The injection assembly was removed,
and an electric igniter was placed and
tightened at the exterior of the com-
89
 bustion tube at the depth where the occurred when oil production ceased;
SPE SERVICE DIRECTORY linseed oil was placed. The tube then in other words, the porous medium
was placed inside the vacuum jacket. was burned to the bottom flange of
The electric igniter was connected to the combustion tube.
SPE Online www.spe.org the ignition terminals of the top flange
Awards Program of the vacuum jacket. The injection Experimental Results
Contact: Tom Whipple
Phone: 1.972.952.9452 • Email: twhipple@spe.org assembly was replaced in its position, Combustion Run Without Catalyst.
Regional/Sectional Awards Program and the fixed and movable thermo- The combustion gas composition
Contact: Brian Wiggins couple sheaths were inserted in their during this run was variable, which
Phone: 1.972.952.9451 • Email: bwiggins@spe.org respective thermowells. indicated that the combustion was
Books, Papers, Software Sales The vacuum jacket was placed in a not very stable. During the run the
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Contact: Wayne Spence duction section. The vacuum jacket matograph. The average combustion
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was tested for 1 hour. The injection temperature was 716°F, and the aver-
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Contact: Donna Neukum
line was connected to the assembly, age combustion-front velocity was
Phone: 1.972.952.9454 • Email: dneukum@spe.org and the vacuum-jacket heater was set 0.2684 ft/hr. The initial oil produc-
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the sand mix to stabilize. produced, with an initial water pro-
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Before beginning the experimental duction occurring at 1.0 hour. Fig. 1
Contact: Joan Payne run, the mass-flow controller and the shows an oil recovery of 77.67 % of
Phone: 1.972.952.9356 • Email: jpayne@spe.org gas chromatograph were calibrated, original oil in the tube.
Contact: Jim Klingele
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the bottom of the movable thermocou-
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ple sheath was raised to the linseed-oil Combustion Run With Catalyst.
Contact: Alyssa Moreno depth, and the package was pressur- Concentrations of CO2, O2, and CO
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Contact: Mary Jane Touchstone
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JPT/JPT Online Advertising Sales transformer. Approximately 90 min- without catalyst, the only difference
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Journal of Petroleum Technology reached approximately 570°F and air the first run, close to 932°F.
Contact: John Donnelly
Phone: 1.713.779.9595, ext. 616 • Email: jdonnelly@spe.org injection was initiated at 3 L/min. Initial water production occurred
Meeting Registration A backpressure regulator was adjust- at 0.9833 hour, with an oil recovery
Phone: 1.800.456.6863 or 1.972.952.9393 ed to maintain a production pressure of 86.17% of the original oil. Because
Email: registration@spe.org of 300 psi. The movable thermocouple of the catalyst effect, not only does
Peer Review reading in the instrument panel was oil production begin sooner than in
Contact: Stacie Hughes
Phone: 1.972.952.9343 • Email: shughes@spe.org observed to increase rapidly to approx- the experiment without catalyst, but
Periodicals, Book Publication imately 970°F, a clear indication that the amount of oil produced with the
Contact: Glenda Smith ignition occurred inside the combus- use of catalyst is larger. Fig. 2 shows
Phone: 1.972.952.9470 • Email: gsmith@spe.org tion tube. Combustion gas composi- produced-oil volume vs. time.
Professional Development Services tion was measured every 5 minutes.
Contact: Tom Whipple
Phone: 1.972.952.9452 Temperature profiles were recorded Conclusions
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Section Service duction liquids were measured every lyst in the heavy oil could make this
Contact: Brian Wiggins
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15 to 20 minutes. Accurate readings process commercially attractive. This
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of temperature profiles were taken catalyst could reduce the amount of
Contact: Doug Lauver with the set of six movable thermo- air injected in a traditional air-injec-
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recording of six entries just behind production begins, which could rep-
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and ahead of the combustion front. resent faster revenue. Summarizing,
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varied, depending on the initial com- • Production acceleration
Email: mschultea@spe.org position of the mixture, with and • Initial temperature of combustion
without catalyst. Liquids were col- relatively sustained
lected in graduated sample bottles • Production increases
that were capped for subsequent anal- • Higher combustion efficiency
ysis. The end of the combustion run • Faster combustion front JPT

90 JPT • MARCH 2008

HEAVY OIL
Enhanced Heavy-Oil Recovery by Alkali/Surfactant Flooding
This study presents the results of labo-
ratory core studies investigating the
recovery mechanisms of alkali/surfac-
tant (A/S) flooding in heavy-oil reser-
voirs. Specifically, mixtures of water
and A/S systems have been injected
into cores containing heavy oil. Salinity
is varied to generate oil-in-water (O/
W) vs. water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion
systems, and the effects of generating
different emulsions were compared.
It was demonstrated that in heavy-oil
systems, emulsion formation was nec-
essary to produce the heavy oil.
Introduction
Several countries, including Canada and
Venezuela, contain massive resources
of unconventional heavy oil and bitu-
men. These oil sands are character-
ized as unconsolidated, high-porosity,
and high-permeability reservoirs. The
single biggest obstacle to successful
recovery from the oil sands is the high
oil viscosity. Heavy-oil reservoirs are a
special subset of the oil sands, whereby
the oil viscosity at reservoir tempera-
ture and pressure varies on the order
of 50 to 50 000 mPa·s. While this oil
is very viscous, it does have limited
mobility at reservoir conditions. As
much as 20% of the oil may be recov-
ered by solution-gas drive, but in many
cases, the recovery is much lower.
To recover additional heavy oil, a fluid
usually must be injected to displace
This article, written by Technology
Editor Dennis Denney, contains high-
lights of paper SPE 110738, “Enhanced
Heavy-Oil Recovery by Alkali/Surfactant
Flooding,” by J. Bryan, SPE, and A.
Kantzas, SPE, University of Calgary
and TIPM Laboratory, prepared for the
2007 SPE Annual Technical Conference
and Exhibition, Anaheim, California,
11–14 November. The paper has not
been peer reviewed.
For a limited time, the full-length paper is available free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt.
JPT • MARCH 2008
1
Equilibrium IFT, mN/m
0.1
0.01
0 5 000
Alkali Content, ppm
Fig. 1—Oil/water IFT with varying alkali content.
oil to the production wells. However,
mobility-ratio concerns dominate dis-
placement of viscous oil, and most
enhanced-oil-recovery processes focus
on reducing oil viscosity or improving
the mobility ratio. Unfortunately, many
of the heavy-oil reservoirs in Canada
are relatively small and thin, making
them poor candidates for expensive
thermal processes. This work investi-
gates the potential of A/S flooding for
enhanced heavy-oil recovery.
Surfactants are a special class of mol-
ecule that is both hydrophobic and
hydrophilic; thus, the most stable con-
figuration for these molecules is at the
oil/water interface. In surfactant flood-
ing, these molecules generally are inject-
ed along with water to reduce the oil/
water interfacial tension (IFT), which
reduces capillary forces that may trap oil
in rock pores. Alkali flooding is a special
subset of chemical flooding whereby the
surfactant is generated in situ through
the reaction between the injected alkali
and the acidic crude oil. It is likely
0 ppm NaCl
20 000 ppm NaCl
10 000 15 000 20 000
that in actual reservoir applications, sev-
eral processes are working together to
improve oil recovery. This work consid-
ers the possible mechanisms that could
be responsible for enhanced recovery of
high-viscosity heavy oil.
Materials and Experiments
The heavy oil used in these experi-
ments was from a field in Saskatchewan,
Alberta, currently in primary produc-
tion. At ambient temperature (23°C),
the oil has a viscosity of approxi-
mately 11 000 mPa·s and a density of
982 kg/m3. The heavy oil used in some
of the core floods was more viscous—
approximately 15 000 mPa·s. This oil
was from the same field; however,
differences in handling or possibly geo-
logical heterogeneities were responsible
for the different measured viscosity
values. The aqueous phase was either
brine containing 20 000 ppm NaCl or
deionized (DI) water.
The preformed surfactant was a com-
mercial anionic surfactant. This surfac-
91
tant is a sodium alkane sulfonate and
has been used in heavy-oil studies in the
past. The alkali used was sodium carbon-
ate, Na2CO3, which was chosen over
other alkali agents because of its buff-
ering capabilities and because it is less
sensitive to variations in the water chem-
istry than is NaOH. The alkali reacts
with organic acids in the oil and should
generate monovalent anionic surfactants.
In this manner, both the preformed and
in-situ surfactants are anionic.
The results of the experiments were
divided into findings from the bulk-
liquid study and from corefloods. The
data collected from the corefloods were
produced-fluid volumes and pressure.
Therefore, the actual recovery mecha-
nisms occurring at the pore scale can
only be inferred on the basis of an
understanding of how the systems
behave in the absence of porous media.
Bulk-Liquid Study
The energy required for emulsification
is proportional to the IFT between the
two fluids. For dissimilar fluids, such
as oil and water, the required energy
can be significant. Shear or agitation is
required to overcome the Gibb’s free
energy of formation and, more impor-
tantly, the Laplace equation of capillary
pressure in a droplet. Therefore, two
requirements must be met to form an
O/W or W/O emulsion: The oil/water
IFT must be reduced, and shear must
be added to the system. The addition of
alkali and surfactant is used to reduce
the oil/water IFT such that emulsifi-
cation can occur with a minimum of
applied shear.
Fig. 1 shows the measured oil/water
IFT values as a function of alkali con-
tent, with the surfactant fixed at 0.1 wt%
(1000 ppm). Because of the similar oil
and water densities, when IFT is higher
than 1 mN/m, the apparatus cannot
measure the IFT, even at its maximum
rotational speed. Considering the DI
water data, in the absence of any alkali,
the surfactant alone cannot reduce the
IFT to measurable values. Even with
0.1 % alkali (1000 ppm) added, the IFT
is too high to be measured. By adding
0.2% alkali to the aqueous phase, the
IFT values plateau at approximately
0.02 mN/m for the entire range of alkali
contents tested. For the brine system,
even in the absence of alkali, it appears
that the surfactant alone can reduce IFT
to measurable values. In the presence
of salt, the IFT has a minimum value at
92
0.3
Total Oil RF/PV Injected
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0.01 0.1
Minimum Effective-Mobility Ratio
Secondary A/S floods
Secondary brine A/S
Fig. 2—A/S flooding, post-waterflood recovery efficiency. RF=recovery
factor, PV=pore volume.
5000-ppm alkali, and additional alkali
increases the IFT.
Other researchers have noted the
salinity effect observed in Fig. 1. Salt
tends to shift the salinity minimum to
lower alkali concentrations, and the
presence of additional alkali then acts
like increased salinity. Therefore, if
injecting brine, the IFT in the system
seems less stable than for DI water.
However, in either case, it can be seen
that the addition of alkali and surfac-
tant to the system reduced the IFT
between oil and water by two to three
orders of magnitude.
Extension of Bulk-Liquid Results to
Porous Media. One of the major differ-
ences between bulk-liquid experiments
and the behavior of the fluids in porous
media is that the fluids are in much
smaller confined spaces while in the
reservoir. Therefore, although at low
IFT the solid appears to be neutrally wet
(i.e., fluids contact the solids indepen-
dent of the wettability), this may not be
the case in porous media. Additionally,
although the fluids appear to be neu-
trally wet for both the DI/A/S and brine/
A/S solutions, the oil adheres much
more strongly to the glass in the pres-
ence of salt; thus, the glass becomes less
hydrophilic even if this is not expressed
by the measured contact angles. Other
researchers have reported this effect
in higher-IFT systems (>1 mN/m).
Therefore, phase-behavior experiments
still enable a qualitative understanding
1 10 100
Entrainment
Tertiary brine A/S
of the wetting nature of the glass. The
reason that solids wettability is impor-
tant is that, in the presence of solids,
the fluid that wets the solid will be the
continuous phase more easily in an
emulsion system.
Previous work with thermal heavy-
oil operations and injection into heavy-
oil cores at very high rates has provided
evidence for the in-situ formation and
flow of W/O emulsions. Because of the
high viscosity of the oil phase, these
emulsion types will be much more
common than O/W emulsions. For all
of these studies, however, the oil/water
IFT was high, and solids were deemed
to have become oil-wet. In the case of
A/S injection, where interfacial forces
are much smaller and the solids wet-
tability is less clear, it becomes very
difficult to determine which emulsions
will form and how the solids will be
wetted by oil and water.
From the bulk-liquid study, it can
be inferred that at low IFT, the dis-
tribution of fluids on solid surfaces is
unclear and cannot be explained easily
by contact-angle/IFT measurements. It
appears that for this chemical system,
in the absence of salt, O/W emulsions
can form and be stabilized by electro-
static repulsion between droplets. In
this state, glass (and sand) appears to
be at least partially wetted by water.
In the presence of salt in the aqueous
phase, only W/O emulsions form and
the glass becomes much more hydro-
phobic (i.e., oil-wet). Although it is not
JPT • MARCH 2008
certain if these relationships will hold
in small rock pores, these assumptions
were used to interpret the pressure and
production data from the corefloods.
A/S-Recovery Potential
Through Coreflooding
In bulk-liquid experiments, the systems
were subjected to significant shear dur-
ing agitation. The coreflooding experi-
ments were designed to test if emulsions
could form as a result of the shear forces
of flow through rock pores. At high tem-
peratures, emulsions can form in porous
media as a result of water condensing
into very small droplets. Likewise, at
flow under very high shear (i.e., 25-
to 250-m/d velocities), emulsification
can occur. At lower-shear conditions
and ambient temperature, however,
researchers have not found evidence
of significant emulsion generation and
flow when viscous oil and water mix.
The key question was, under conditions
of low IFT because of the presence of
A/S in the water, could emulsions form
at the levels of shear from flow at nor-
mal reservoir rates. Therefore, a suite of
waterfloods and primary and second-
ary A/S floods was carried out and is
detailed in the full-length paper.
For a heavy-oil waterflood at a con-
stant injection rate, at early times, water
is injected into the core. However, the
viscous oil cannot flow out at the same
rate; thus, pressure builds up in the
core. During this time of high pressure
gradient, the oil recovery is high. After
water breaks through, the pressure in
the system declines sharply because
injected water now can flow along
paths of low resistance, and the oil-
recovery rate drops accordingly. Once
water breaks through, the remaining oil
is produced at very high water cuts.
Comparing the pressure response for
the waterflood with that of a primary
brine/A/S flood, when A/S was inject-
ed with water, the pressure maximum
occurred at later times, indicating a
delay in the water breakthrough. Even
after water breakthrough, pressure
declined more gradually in the chemical
flood, indicating a more stable displace-
ment front. Because of the more stable
displacement during primary A/S flood-
ing, the recovery efficiency appeared to
be higher than for waterflooding.
Coreflooding Results. One important
point is that no O/W emulsion was
observed in the produced fluids, despite
JPT • MARCH 2008
these emulsions being generated in the
bulk-liquid tests. However, it is certain
that the chemical caused some change
in the system because pressure built up
in the core, accompanied by a decrease
in the produced-water cut. The pres-
sure and water-cut response are key
to understanding what is happening:
Emulsion droplets are forming because
of the low IFT and flow shear, but
these droplets are not entrained in the
flowing aqueous phase. Rather, they
must be plugging off the water chan-
nels, which in turn leads to improved
sweep efficiency and a reduced effec-
tive-mobility ratio.
In systems with high shear, O/W
emulsions were produced under DI/A/S
flooding. In these systems, if flooded
with brine/A/S solution after DI/A/S
flooding, the pressure in the core built
up, but now the produced fluid appeared
to be a W/O emulsion. Therefore,
although in many cases emulsions were
not observed in the produced fluids,
the bulk-liquid experiments were still
useful to determine which type of emul-
sion should be forming in the porous
medium. It is possible that, even under
DI/A/S conditions, multiple emulsion
types may be forming in the core,
but the results from low-permeability
experiments show that the bulk-liquid
emulsion systems can be used at least
as an indication of what should be hap-
pening in reservoir applications.
Fig. 2 shows the total recovery effi-
ciency with respect to the minimum
value of effective-mobility ratio for the
secondary DI/ and brine/A/S floods, the
entrainment secondary DI/A/S floods,
and the tertiary brine/A/S floods. In all
cases, the total recovery efficiency is
directly correlated to the minimum value
of effective-mobility ratio, showing that
improved recovery is the result of an
improved mobility ratio of the system.
It can be said that waterflooding at
the same rate is not affected by the
salinity of the injected fluid. However,
when comparing waterflooding with
primary A/S flooding, the results differ
by a larger amount. This large differ-
ence indicates that primary A/S floods
are more effective than waterfloods for
both DI/A/S and brine/A/S systems.
Secondary A/S floods are much more
efficient than primary A/S floods. This
can be understood through a simple
Jamin pressure-drop calculation. If a
low-IFT fluid surrounds an emulsion
droplet then the pressure drop to force
this droplet through a pore constriction
is small. This state is that of a primary
A/S flood after breakthrough of the A/S
solution. Alternatively, if the emulsified
droplet is contacted by a low-IFT fluid
from one direction but by a high-IFT
fluid from the opposite direction, as is
the case for A/S flooding after water-
flooding, the Jamin pressure drop is
significantly higher. Therefore, trapping
of emulsion droplets will be more pro-
nounced, leading to improved sweep.
For waterflooding and primary DI/A/S
flooding, the most effective oil-recovery
period occurs before breakthrough of
the water or A/S solution. Additional
pressure buildup in the system leads
to improved flow rates on the basis of
Darcy’s law, which explains the weak
trend showing that at higher dimension-
less shear rate, the recovery efficiency
is slightly higher for these systems. For
secondary A/S flooding, however, the
trend is opposite. The best recovery
is achieved under conditions of low-
est dimensionless shear rate, which
indicates that entrapment is the main
recovery mechanism for these DI/A/S
systems. At lower shear rate, emulsified
oil droplets are formed but the shear is
not high enough to force these droplets
through the pore throats. At elevated
shear, the trapping of the oil droplets is
reduced, and emulsification and entrain-
ment are the extreme forms of these
high-shear conditions.
Comparing the recovery efficiency
for secondary DI/A/S floods and sec-
ondary brine/A/S floods, both as a func-
tion of dimensionless shear rate, both
systems follow the same trend, which
indicates that the recovery mechanism
is the same. Whether emulsified oil or
emulsified water droplets cause trap-
ping, the recovery mechanism is that
of plugging the pore throats, leading to
improved sweep efficiency and reduced
effective-mobility ratios.
One last result of recovery by entrap-
ment of droplets is the indication that
emulsion droplets are on the same scale
as pore sizes. In this situation, it is not
correct to think of the production mech-
anism being the flow of low-viscosity
O/W emulsions. This concept applies
only to a situation in which the emul-
sion droplets are much smaller than the
pore sizes, meaning that the emulsion
can flow as a pseudosingle-phase fluid.
This type of flow was not observed in
the corefloods that showed significant
improvement in recovery. JPT
93