Abstract
Intraformational water zones are widely reported in Canadian oil sands fields. In order to pressurize a thief zone, one of the initiatives is to inject gas. However, the evaluation of gas injectivity based on a pore size distribution is still a big challenge. This study provides a multi-scale approach to study the effect of a pore size distribution on gas injectivity in intraformational water zones. The results indicate the gas effective permeability increases in a less complex and more discrete pore network. The enhancement of gas effective permeability with increased gas saturation weakens with higher complexity and lower discreteness of a pore network. A less complex and more discrete pore network better benefits the gas injectivity index.
Highlights
Over 95% of oil in Canada is located in oil sands reservoirs
A steam chamber grows in this procedure, and the oil flows along the edge of the steam chamber
An analytical model for gas effective permeability is established for single pores and a bundle of pores, and numerical simulation is further performed to evaluate the gas injectivity index in intraformational water zones in oil sands reservoirs
Summary
Over 95% of oil in Canada is located in oil sands reservoirs. One of the most popular methods to develop the oil sands reservoirs is Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) (Butler, 1997; Zargar et al, 2020). There are still many challenges during the SAGD production in oil sands reservoirs, and one of them is the gas injectivity evaluation in intraformational water zones. The effect of a pore size distribution on gas injectivity in intraformational water zones in oil sands reservoirs is still not explored yet. This study is focused on a multi-scale approach to evaluate the effect of a pore size distribution on gas injectivity. Reservoir simulation is thirdly performed by coupling these models In this way, the PSD-based gas effective permeability and injectivity index in intraformational water zones in oil sands reservoirs are obtained and analyzed. This study provides a practical workflow to determine the gas injectivity in intraformational water zones in oil sands reservoirs, and provides a strong reference for future oil sands production projects
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