Mathematical model to predict unsteady-state heat transfer mechanism and economic feasibility in nanoparticle-assisted electromagnetic heating stimulation technique for bituminous extra-heavy oil reservoir

Abstract

As conventional hydrocarbon reserves have gone into depletion state, oil companies around the world have turned their attention to heavy oil reserves, which were previously overlooked due to their less prolific capability compared to conventional hydrocarbon reservoirs. Bituminous heavy oil resources are known to be plentiful in quantity and size, but not without disadvantages, in which the astronomical viscosity is a troublesome aspect to be considered in exploiting the reservoir. It is not seldom that the viscosity itself is so high that bituminous oil would appear as solid-like substance under reservoir pressure and temperature. Electromagnetic heating has long been touted as the solution to overcome viscosity barrier in exploiting bituminous heavy oil reservoirs. The introduction of heat from electromagnetic wave propagation enables more efficient well stimulation technique compared to resistive heating. However, as sophisticated as the models are, they seem to be lacking a techno-economic model to consider feasibility of the project. This mathematical presentation incorporates technical aspects of heating and EM propagation model to properly model unsteady-state temperature and heat propagation as a function of time. The model is then tested on a sample bituminous heavy oil reservoir with thinly layered production zone and it has been highly reliable to swiftly predict project feasibility of nanoparticle-assisted EM heating.