In Situ Combustion Process - Results of a Five-Well Field Experiment in Southern Oklahoma

Abstract

Published in Petroleum Transactions, AIME, Volume 216, 1959, pages 55–64. Introduction Results of experimental work on the in situ combustion process were first published in this country in 1953 when Kuhn and Koch described results of a three-well test in Jefferson County, Okla. Shortly thereafter Grant and Szasz described field studies in Nowata County, Okla., in which several modifications of the basic combustion process were investigated by injection of various oxidizing gas mixtures other than air. In the past five years speculation concerning this method of oil recovery has continued, with a number of interesting papers on various aspects of in situ combustion appearing in the literature. However, only one of these provided actual engineering information on pattern-type field experiments. The primary objectives of the Oklahoma three-well test were to check operation of specially designed electrical ignition equipment and evaluate problems associated with initiation of combustion in a natural oil sand reservoir. Immediately following successful completion of this test in the Pontotoc sand, plans were activated for a second field experiment to be conducted in the same sand a short distance away. The objective of this second field test was to establish a relationship between field observations and information derived from laboratory experimentation and computations. Secondary objectives of the test were to develop operating techniques and define operating problems, and to obtain information that would assist in the economic and engineering appraisals of the process. Careful planning was required since this test was designed with the hope of providing basic information on the characteristics and operation of a combustion drive. It was necessary to include test facilities which would not only permit precise control and measurement of the process variables but would also provide sufficient flexibility of control to insure the course of the test under a wide range of conditions. In order to accomplish these objectives elaborate instrumentation and several control wells were included in the design of the test installation. This type installation was felt to be well suited for an experimental study, but was in no respect intended as a counterpart of a commercial-scale operation.