Abstract
The reserves of highly viscous oils and natural bitumen are several times higher than the stocks of light oils. In the development of such oils by thermal methods, steam is produced, the development of which is accompanied by significant emissions into the atmosphere of flue gases, including carbon dioxide. According to estimates, the extraction of high-viscosity oils annually releases about 34.5 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. However, carbon dioxide emissions from steam generation can be reduced to zero by injecting flue gases along with steam into the formation. In addition to environmental benefits, the technology of co-injection of water vapor and combustion gases (nitrogen and carbon dioxide) has a complex (thermal and physico-chemical) effect on the formation with a synergistic effect. The article is devoted to the analysis of the mechanisms affecting the increase in oil recovery during the co-injection of steam with flue gases, the description of equipment for the injection of flue gases into the reservoir, as well as the analysis of field experience in using this technology. The calculations for one of the fields of high-viscosity oil show the high efficiency of co-injection of water steam with flue gases.
Highlights
With the development of light oil reserves, the most important component of the raw material base in Russia, and in a number of other oil-producing countries of the world, are stocks of highly viscous oils and natural bitumen
According to [1], Canada has the largest reserves of heavy and bituminous oil, Venezuela has the second largest reserves of heavy and bituminous oil, wich are reserves located in the Orinoco bituminous belt
When developing oil fields containing BBH, thermal methods of enhanced oil recovery have no alternative at present
Summary
With the development of light oil reserves, the most important component of the raw material base in Russia, and in a number of other oil-producing countries of the world, are stocks of highly viscous oils and natural bitumen. Their world total volume is estimated at 810 billion tons, which is almost five times the amount of residual recoverable reserves of low and medium viscosity oils, which is only 162.3 billion tons [1]. Taking the average steam-oil ratio at the level of 4 tons of steam / ton of oil, we get an annual estimate of steam production in the amount of 273.5 million tons When generating this amount of steam, 34.5 million tons of carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere annually. In addition to environmental benefits, the technology of co-injection of water vapor and combustion gases (nitrogen and carbon dioxide) has a complex (thermal and physico-chemical) effect on the formation with a synergistic effect
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