A new description method of the position of combustion front in dry linear fire flooding process

Abstract

Abstract The description methods of combustion front are required to be fast and accurate for in-situ combustion (fire flooding), and the current methods can't fully conform that requirement. However, the description method based on conventional data monitoring is a way to solve this problem. The experimental results of dry combustion indicates that the position of combustion front has a nearly linear correlation with the total acid numbers (TAN) of oil produced for in-situ combustion (ISC). Meanwhile, the tendency of pressure variation between neighboring air injection wells can determine the state and the time of combustion chamber connected in linear ISC process. Therefore, based on the relationship between TAN, injection pressure and combustion front, the acid numbers-pressure(ANP) method is established，which is suitable for dry linear fire flooding. Further, this method is applied to the calculation of the position of the combustion front in HQ1 ISC pilot area in Xinjiang over the years. Compared with other methods, the ANP method can rapidly calculate the position of combustion front and confirm the connectivity of combustion chamber. In addition, the combination of the ANP and other method is a good solution to confirm the position of combustion front for dry linear ISC process.