Abstract
This paper presents how to produce bitumen efficiently from the reservoir with top-water-bearing zone. The impact of naturally occurring and/or co-injected non-condensable gas on bitumen production is investigated using numerical studies. Non-condensable gas can improve energy efficiency in two ways: reduction of dynamic vacuum effect and blockage of direct contact of steam chamber and top water layer. A strategic operation mitigating the groundwater influx is presented. An artificial neural network (ANN) model adjusts both pressures of steam and non-condensable gas injected as well as the amount of non-condensable gas. The results show the optimised scheme of steam and gas push (SAGP) can improve the energy efficiency of thermal recovery by maintaining the pressure within the steam chamber enough to prevent excessive water influx, not to obstruct steam chamber expansion in early production stage.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 304-326 |
Number of pages | 23 |
Journal | International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology |
Volume | 20 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This study has been worked with the support of a research grant of Kangwon National University, Korea in 2017.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2019 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
Keywords
- Energy efficiency
- Gas push
- Oil sands
- SAGP
- Steam
- Steam chamber
- Top-water-bearing zone