Coupled Geomechanical and Reservoir Modeling Investigating Poroelastic Effects of Cyclic Steam Stimulation in the Cold Lake Reservoir

Abstract

Summary The heating of bitumen reservoirs by cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) requires high pressures and temperatures that disturb the soil matrix. This disturbance results in a dilation of the soil matrix, creating regions of enhanced permeability and porosity, which impact both the injection and production cycles of steam stimulation and the porous zones not hydraulically connected to the reservoir. The volumetric strain changes reach far beyond the region of injection and include areas of both expansion and compression. The magnitude of the volumetric strains may result in significant displacements and strains being transferred to porous zones outside the reservoir. This can result in observable pressure changes in an otherwise hydraulically static system. Pressure data at an observation well drilled to monitor aquifer pressures showed a significant response to the CSS process occurring in the reservoir approximately 300 m below the aquifer. Coupled geomechanical and reservoir modeling and an analytical calculation both show that this pressure behavior is attributed to the poroelastic response of the aquifer caused by the CSS process occurring in the reservoir. This paper describes the field data, the methodology of the coupled reservoir and geomechanical modeling, and the result of the analysis of the field data with the coupled model. The analysis shows clearly that the aquifer response is not caused by a hydraulic communication with the reservoir. It also shows the capabilities of coupled modeling, as this type of a problem could not be analyzed with conventional reservoir simulation tools.