Production Features of Flue Gas Assisted SAGD Technology

Abstract

The SAGD test zone in the Guantao reservoir of the Du84 Block in the Liaohe Oilfield belongs to a massive reservoir with top water, which may have the challenge of top water breakthrough along with the propagation of steam chamber. Flue gas assisted SAGD technique is proposed to slow down water break through. Laboratory experiments have been conducted to study the dissolubility of flue gas in Liaohe dehydrated super-heavy oil. The result of the experiments indicates that the viscosity of oil/gas mixture reduces drastically, and the rate of viscosity reduction almost shows linear increase after flue gas dissolved in super-heavy oil. The steam chamber extension feature and development characteristics of SAGD and flue gas assisted SAGD were compared by numerical simulation. The results show that flue gas exits in the top of reservoir because of gravitational differentiation, which can inhibit steam overlay, reduce heat loss to cap rock, and increase heat efficiency.