Offshore Heavy Oil Reservoirs Research Articles

Experimental Study on Factors Influencing the Efficiency of Hot Water Injection in Offshore Heavy Oil Reservoirs

Abstract In response to the problem of low final recovery rate in conventional water flooding development of offshore heavy oil, the Bohai LD5 heavy oil field was taken as the target area. Through one-dimensional oil displacement efficiency experiments, the influence of crucial injection and production parameters on oil displacement efficiency, such as temperature, injection rate, injection production ratio, timing of hot water flooding, and injection medium, was studied. The key injection and production parameters were optimized, and the main controlling factors affecting the efficiency of hot water flooding after water flooding were identified through data analysis. Propose an optimization approach for thermal injection media and quantitatively evaluate the oil recovery efficiency under different injection and production parameters. Research has shown that for the Bohai LD5 heavy oil field, the optimal combination of injection and production parameters is: an injection rate of 2mL/min, injection temperature of 110°C, and timing of conversion to flooding at a recovery rate of 20% to 30% (water content of 55% to 70%). The hot water composite flue gas has the best oil recovery effect, considering both oil recovery efficiency and on-site construction conditions. The degree of influence of various factors on the efficiency of hot water flooding is as follows: temperature>timing of hot water flooding (recovery degree)>injection rate. Under low temperature (within 110 °C) conditions, temperature is the main factor affecting the efficiency of hot water flooding. The overall recovery rate of different injection media shows a trend of hot water composite>hot water>cold recovery.

The Production Analysis and Exploitation Scheme Design of a Special Offshore Heavy Oil Reservoir—First Offshore Artificial Island with Thermal Recovery

More and more offshore heavy oil resources are discovered and exploited as the focus of the oil and gas industry shifts from land to sea. However, unlike onshore heavy oil reservoirs, offshore heavy oil reservoirs not only have active edge and bottom water but also have different exploitation methods. In this paper, a typical special heavy oil reservoir in China was analyzed in detail, based on geology–reservoir–engineering integration technology. Firstly, it is identified as a self-sealing bottom water heavy oil reservoir by analyzing its geological characteristics and hydrocarbon accumulation mechanism. Secondly, the water cut is initially controlled by oil viscosity, but subsequently, by reservoir thickness through the analysis of oil and water production data. Thirdly, the bottom oil–water contact of the reservoir was re-corrected to build an accurate 3D geological model, based on the production history matching of a single well and the whole reservoir. Lastly, a scheme of thermal production coupled with cold production was proposed to exploit this special reservoir, and the parameters of steam, N2, and CO2 injection and production were optimized to predict oil production. This work can provide a valuable development model for the efficient exploitation of similar offshore special heavy oil reservoirs.

IMMISCIBLE VISCOUS FINGERING MODELING OF TERTIARY POLYMER FLOODING BASED ON REAL CASE OF HEAVY OIL RESERVOIR MODEL

In immiscible displacements, lower viscosity injected fluids with higher mobility than crude oil can create viscous fingers, affecting displacement efficiency. The Buckley–Leverett approach for relative permeabilities (kr) may not represent accurately 2D features like increased water saturation in viscous fingering. Based on the physics issue, this work applies Sorbie's 4-Steps methodology to a 3D simulation of an offshore heavy oil reservoir focusing on waterflooding and tertiary polymer flooding, assessing their impact on oil production forecasts. It also explores the application of this methodology to coarse grid simulation models, employing pseudo kr functions by data assimilation. During tertiary polymer injection, two processes were identified in oil displacement: viscous crossflow mechanism and oil bank mobilization by a second finger. This combination resulted in earlier and increased oil production. For both strategies, refining the grid increased simulation runtime from minutes to days compared to coarse grids, making it impractical for intensive processes. From data assimilation, the best solution with matched field indicators reduced runtime from days to minutes. This study expanded the 4-Steps methodology for 3D reservoir simulation, proposing kr as uncertainties. Data assimilation enhances the methodology, generating pseudo kr for coarser grid simulations, reducing computational costs, and capturing small-scale phenomena.

Simulation of wellbore pipe flow in oil production engineering: Offshore concentric double-tube CO2-assisted superheated steam wellbore during SAGD process of heavy oil reservoirs

Heavy oil reservoirs are widely distributed around the world and play an important role in offshore oil and gas development. For heavy oil reservoirs, industrial productivity can only be obtained by effectively reducing the viscosity. In addition, by improving the steam injection pipe string, the production degree of the heavy oil reservoir can be effectively improved. In this paper, with the development of offshore heavy oil reservoirs as the background, the heat transfer characteristics of concentric double pipes are studied. Considering the influence of carbon dioxide on the superheated steam, a concentric double pipe flow model is established. The typical flow characteristics and the influence of carbon dioxide content are analyzed. The conclusions are as follows: (a) In the sea water section, the overall heat conduction rate of the concentric double pipe is reduced from 70.5 J/s (at 0 m) to 67.8978 J/s (at 120 m). In the formation section, the overall heat conduction rate of the concentric double pipe is reduced from 67.8978 J/s (at 120 m) to 61.5368 J/s (at 290 m). (b) For the integral joint tubing, the pressure of the mixed fluid of carbon dioxide and superheated steam in the integral joint tubing drops from 4.7 MPa (0 m) to 4.2399 MPa (290 m). (c) For the annular space, the pressure of the mixed fluid of carbon dioxide and superheated steam in the annular space drops from 4.7 MPa (0 m) to 4.3247 MPa (290 m).

Numerical Reservoir Simulation of Supercritical Multi-Source and Multi-Component Steam Injection for Offshore Heavy Oil Development

We present the workflow for numerical reservoir simulation of supercritical multi-source and multi-component steam injection for offshore heavy oil development. We have developed unique techniques in a commercial reservoir simulator to implement the thermal properties of supercritical multi-source and multi-component steam, the pyrolysis chemical reactions, the temperature-dependent relative permeability, and the process of partially dissolving the sandstone rock to enhance the matrix permeability in a commercial reservoir simulator. Simulations are conducted on the type pattern reservoir model, which represents one of the heavy oil fields in CNOOC’s Bohai Bay oil field. Simulation input parameters are calibrated based on laboratory experiments conducted for supercritical multi-source and multi-component steam injection. Simulation results have shown clear improvements in injecting supercritical multi-source and multi-component steam in offshore heavy oil reservoirs compared to the normal steam injection process using subcritical steam. This serves as a workflow for implementing a numerical simulation of the novel supercritical multi-source and multi-component steam injection recovery process.

Simulation of Multi-component Thermal Fluid Flooding in Horizontal Well of Offshore Heavy Oil Reservoirs

After many-turns of huff and puff of multi-component thermal fluid, only the heavy oil in a limited area near the wellbore is produced. However, the inter-well areas, namely the dead oil areas, are not influenced by multi-component thermal fluid. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out the research on multi-component thermal fluid flooding. The facility of thermal recovery 3D physical stimulation is adopted to carry out simulation of flooding in various well spacing of pseudo-line well pattern, and producer-injector spacing and parameters are optimized with numerical simulation. The results of physical simulation and numerical simulation results show that the effect of the 250m spacing of well pattern with injectior-productor ratio 1:3 is better than other well spacing, with maximum recovery of 56.02%. The research results provide a technical support for the offshore multi-component thermal fluid flooding experiment.

Numerical simulation of steam flooding in offshore heavy oil reservoir after water flooding

Steam flooding is an effective method to enhance oil recovery in heavy oil reservoirs. However, the influence factors of steam flooding will affect the development of heavy oil reservoir after the traditional water flooding. So the dynamic prediction of steam flooding needs to be performed before the development scheme is implemented. In this study, the 3D reservoir model was established by the reservoir numerical simulation software CMG; Combined with operating parameters of oilfield, the influence of steam temperature, steam injection timing and steam quality on the development effect of L7 block in offshore heavy oil reservoir was studied by using 3D reservoir model. The results show that compared with traditional water flooding, steam flooding has better development effect, and the cumulative oil production can reach 100.673 × 104m3; With the increase of steam temperature and steam quality, the cumulative oil production, incremental oil production and heat efficiency have an increasing trend; This result also suggests that the development method of higher steam temperature and steam quality conforms to the principle of economic development; For steam injection timing, the earlier the steam injection is more conducive to better development results.

A Novel Methodology for Predicting the Production of Horizontal CSS Wells in Offshore Heavy Oil Reservoirs Using Particle Swarm Optimized Neural Network

Cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) is one of the main offshore heavy oil recovery methods used. Predicting the production of horizontal CSS wells is significant for developing offshore heavy oil reservoirs. Currently, the existing reservoir numerical simulation and analytical models are the two major methods to predict the production of horizontal CSS wells. The reservoir numerical simulation method is tedious and time-consuming, while the analytical models need many assumptions, decreasing models’ accuracy. Therefore, in this study, a novel methodology combining the particle swarm optimization algorithm (PA) and long short-term memory (LM) model was developed to predict the production of horizontal CSS wells. First, a simulation model was established to calculate the cumulative oil production (COP) of horizontal CSS wells under different well, geological, and operational parameters, and then the correlations between the calculated COP and parameters were analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficient to select the input variables and to generate the initial data set. Then, a PA-LM model for the COP of horizontal CSS wells was developed by utilizing the PA to determine the optimal hyperparameters of the LM model. Finally, the accuracy of the PA-LM model was validated by the initial data set and actual production data. The results showed that, compared with the LM model, the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of the testing set for the PA-LM model decreased by 4.27%, and the percentage of the paired points in zone A increased by 2.8% in the Clarke error grids. In addition, the MAPEs of the training set for the PA-LM and LM models stabilized at 267 and 304 epochs, respectively. Therefore, the proposed PA-LM model had a higher accuracy, a stronger generalization ability, and a faster convergence rate. The MAPEs of the actual and predicted COP of the wells B1H and B5H by the optimized PA-LM model were 8.66% and 5.93%, respectively, satisfying the requirements in field applications.

NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF NITROGEN FOAM AND GEL-ASSISTED STEAM FLOODING FOR OFFSHORE HEAVY OIL RESERVOIRS

Chemical-assisted steam flooding is a promising method for heavy oils. However, few researches have investigated the performance of nitrogen foam and gel-assisted steam flooding (NFG-A-SF) on offshore heavy oil reservoirs. In addition, the effects of operational parameters on the performance of NFG-A-SF are still unclear. In this study, a numerical simulation model was developed to simulate NFG-A-SF processes for offshore heavy oil reservoirs. Then, a comparison of NFG-A-SF and steam flooding was made to assess the feasibility of NFG-A-SF in a well group at Oilfield L, a typical offshore heavy reservoir of Bohai Bay, China. Finally, sensitivity analysis was conducted to investigate the effects of the chemical agent type, injection mode, injection timing, cycle number of gel and nitrogen foam, polymer concentration, crosslinking agent concentration, foaming agent concentration, and gas-liquid ratio on NFG-A-SF performance. The results showed that, compared with SF, the NFG-A-SF has better performance, which is a potential and effective method for offshore heavy oil reservoirs. The NFG-A-SF should be implemented as early as possible. During the NFG-A-SF processes, gel slugs should be injected alternately with nitrogen foam slugs, and the gel slugs should be injected first before nitrogen foam slugs. Considering the economic benefit, there are optimum cycle numbers of gel and nitrogen foam, gas-liquid ratio, concentrations of polymer, crosslinking agent, and foaming agent.

Cyclic Supercritical Multi-Thermal Fluid Stimulation Process: A Novel Improved-Oil-Recovery Technique for Offshore Heavy Oil Reservoir

Cyclic supercritical multi-thermal fluid stimulation (CSMTFS) is a novel technology that can efficiently recover heavy oil, while the heating effect, production and heat loss characteristics of CSMTFS have not been discussed. In this study, a physical simulation experiment of CSMTFS is conducted with a three-dimensional experimental system. The results of the study indicate that the whole process of CSMTFS can be divided into four stages, namely, the preheating stage, production increase stage, production stable stage and production decline stage, of which the production stable stage is the main oil production stage, and the production decline stage is the secondary oil production stage. In the first two stages of the CSMTFS process, there is no supercritical multi-thermal fluid chamber, and only a relatively small supercritical multi-thermal fluid chamber is formed in the last stage of the CSMTFS process. Out of the supercritical multi-thermal fluid chamber, supercritical water in the thermal fluids condensates to hot water and flows downward to heat the subjacent oil layer. At the same time, the non-condensate gas in the thermal fluids accumulates to the upper part of the oil layer and reduces heat loss. The analysis of heat loss shows that the heat loss rate gradually increases at first and then tends to be stable. Compared with conventional thermal fluid, the CSMTFS can more effectively reduce heat loss. The enthalpy value of supercritical multi-thermal fluid is significantly increased compared with that of multi-thermal fluid, which effectively solves the problem of insufficient heat carrying capacity of multi-thermal fluid. Overall, cyclic supercritical multi-thermal fluid stimulation can effectively solve the problems of conventional heavy oil thermal recovery technology in offshore heavy oil recovery; it is indeed a new improved-oil-recovery technique for offshore heavy oil. The findings of this study can help in better understanding the cyclic supercritical multi-thermal fluid stimulation process. This study is significant and helpful for application of CSMTFS technology in heavy oil recovery.

Pressure Performance Analysis of Inclined Well under Multiple-Well Interference in Offshore Heavy Oil Reservoir

Offshore heavy oil reservoirs are developed mainly by inclined wells, and the well distance has been constantly reduced after several well network adjustments. The well test data are often interfered by adjacent wells, resulting in unsatisfactory well test interpretation results, so it is necessary to conduct studies on the multiwell interference well test problem for inclined wells. In this paper, the threshold pressure gradient of heavy oil and the stress sensitive to permeability are considered comprehensively, and a well test model of inclined wells in dual-media reservoirs under multiwell interference is established. The analytical solution in Laplace space is obtained by using Green function and superposition principle. The results show that the typical pressure dynamic curve can be divided into 12 flow regions, and the pressure derivative curve of the central inclined well is upturned and forms multiple “platforms” under the interference of adjacent wells; the adjacent well interference will aggravate the upward of pressure derivative curve; a critical well inclination angle of the inclined well is 40°. When the well inclination angle is greater than 40°, vertical radial flow similar to horizontal wells will appear. The new model is well matched and interpreted in the application of BZ oil field in Bohai Bay, which provides theoretical guidance for multiwell interference test wells in the similar reservoir.

Study on Influence of Heavy Oil Reservoir Damage Caused by Multi-Component Thermal Fluid Huff and Puff

Multi-component thermal fluid (MCTF) huff and puff technology is an innovative heavy oil development technology widely used in China offshore oilfields. MCTFs mainly include steam, N2 and CO2. Under high temperature and high pressure, the physical and chemical reactions between thermal fluids and rocks occur, damaging the reservoir permeability and production effect. In this paper, 16 groups of core comparison experiments were carried out by MCTF device, the influence of original permeability, temperature and component on reservoir damage was quantitatively studied, and a mathematical model was established. Finally, the influence of reservoir damage on heavy oil development was investigated through numerical simulation. The experimental study reveals that MCTF has an obvious damage effect on the reservoir, where temperature and PV dominate the damage degree; with the increase of MCTF injection volume (PV), the core permeability rapidly decreases initially and stabilizes later (>6 PV). The numerical simulation results show that reservoir damage could lead to a recovery drop by 6.9% during MCTF development; on the premise of considering reservoir damage, MCTF huff and puff will further improve oil recovery by 9.68% compared with pure steam. The research is of great significance for understanding the production law of MCTF huff and puff and helpful for promoting the development of offshore heavy oil reservoir.

Autonomous Inflow-Control Devices Boost Production While Managing Sand

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper OTC 30403, “Sand Production Management While Increasing Oil Production of a Gravel-Packed Well Equipped With Rate-Controlled-Production Autonomous Inflow-Control Devices in a Thin Heavy-Oil Reservoir Offshore China,” by Shuquan Xiong, Fan Li, and Congda Wei, CNOOC, et al., prepared for the 2020 Offshore Technology Conference Asia, originally scheduled to be held in Kuala Lumpur, 2–6 November. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Copyright 2020 Offshore Technology Conference. Reproduced by permission. A 2018 infill development campaign for a horizontal well offshore China targeted improved production through the installation of autonomous inflow-control devices (AICDs). However, because the well requires gravel packing to manage the sand, the integration of AICDs and the gravel pack was an issue. An integrated work flow was followed to deliver the AICD application successfully in an offshore heavy-oil reservoir with major uncertainties in remaining oil thickness and water/oil contacts. AICD completions ensured balanced contribution from all reservoir sections and limited water production significantly while the gravel pack kept the valves safe from the effects of sand. Field Description The field is a low-amplitude fault anticline oil field developed on the basement uplift. The structure is relatively gentle (Fig. 1). The reservoir lithology is mainly feldspathic quartz sandstone, with an average porosity of 22%, an average permeability of 397 md, a reservoir pressure coefficient of 1, an oil density of 0.92 g/cm3, and crude oil viscosity of 150 cp. The current methodology for gravel packing with ICDs/AICDs in the well uses a multiple alpha-wave technique whereby at least one conventional standalone screen joint is deployed at the toe of the well to provide a return path during the buildup of the alpha wave. The flow rate is reduced progressively to maximize the dune weight until screenout is observed. Once the gravel-packing operation is complete, the standalone-screen section at the toe is isolated before the well is placed on production. This technique does not allow a complete pack to be achieved and will allow more gravel to build up around the zonal isolation packers. This methodology is most applicable in unconsolidated sands with high net-to-gross reservoirs where borehole collapse will occur early in well life. One technique to provide sufficient flow path through the screen assembly is to integrate sliding sleeves into each screen joint. However, in long lateral wellbores, this may be prohibitively expensive and requires multiple manual manipulations as the wash pipe is retrieved. The use of a temporary bypass valve is recommended to enable standard gravel-packing operations to be performed with ICDs without significant additional cost, complexity, or compromise. The dissolvable material is used with a valve located within the ICD/AICD housing to provide a high-flow-area path from the annulus to the tubing during completion operations.

Experimental study on the mechanism and development effect of multi-gas assisted steam huff and puff process in the offshore heavy oil reservoirs

Multi-gas assisted steam huff and puff process is a relatively new thermal recovery technology for offshore heavy oil reservoirs. Some blocks of Bohai oilfield have implemented multi-gas assisted steam huff and puff process. However, the development mechanism still requires further study. In this paper, high-temperature high-pressure (HTHP) PVT experiments and different huff and puff experiments of sand pack were carried out to reveal the enhanced production mechanism and evaluate the development effect of multi-gas assisted steam huff and puff process. The results indicated that viscosity reduction and thermal expansion still were the main development mechanism of multi-gas assisted steam huff and puff process. Specifically, CO2 easily dissolved in the heavy oil that made it mainly play the role of reducing oil viscosity, N2 was characteristics of small solubility and good expansibility, and it could improve formation pressure, increase steam sweep volume and even reduce the heat loss. Meanwhile, injecting multi-gas and steam could break the balance of heavy oil component that made the content of resin reduce and the content of saturates, aromatics and asphaltene increase so as to further reduce the viscosity of heavy oil. Compared with steam huff and puff process, multi-gas assisted steam huff and puff process increased the recovery by 2–5%. The optimal water–gas ratio and steam injection temperature were 4:6 and 300℃, respectively. The results suggested that multi-gas assisted steam huff and puff process would have wide application prospect for offshore heavy oil reservoirs.

Investigation of Nanoclay-Surfactant-Stabilized Foam for Improving Oil Recovery of Steam Flooding in Offshore Heavy Oil Reservoirs.

This study presents a study of nanoclay-surfactant-stabilized foam to improve the oil recovery of steam flooding in offshore heavy oil reservoirs. The foam stability and thermal resistance studies were first performed to investigate the influence of nanoclay on the stability and thermal resistance properties of the foam system. Then, the sandpack flooding tests were conducted for investigating the resistance factor and displacement abilities by nanoclay-surfactant-stabilized foam. The results showed that the nanoclay-surfactant-stabilized foam has excellent foaming ability and foam stability at 300 °C, which can be used in steam flooding for offshore heavy oil reservoirs. The resistance factor is greater than 30 at 300 °C when the gas–liquid ratio ranges from 1 to 3, which indicated that the nanoclay-surfactant-stabilized foam has good performance of thermal resistance and plugging effect. The heterogeneous sandpack flooding test showed that the nanoclay-surfactant-stabilized foam can effectively divert the steam into the low-permeability area and improve the sweep efficiency, thus improving heavy oil recovery of steam flooding. Therefore, the nanoclay-surfactant-stabilized foam flooding has a great potential for improving oil recovery of steam flooding in offshore heavy oil reservoirs.

Numerical Simulations of Chemical-Assisted Steam Flooding in Offshore Heavy Oil Reservoirs after Water Flooding

Chemical-assisted steam flooding (CASF) is a promising method for heavy oils. However, few researches have investigated the CASF performance on offshore heavy oil reservoirs recovery after water flooding. In this study, a numerical simulation model was developed to simulate CASF processes for offshore heavy oil reservoirs after water flooding. Then, a comparison of CASF and various thermal methods was made to assess the feasibility of CASF in an offshore heavy reservoir of Bohai Bay, China. Finally, sensitivity analysis was performed to evaluate the effects of the gas-liquid ratio, foaming agent concentration, surfactant concentration, the size of nitrogen foam slug, the size of surfactant slug, and the number of chemical injection round on CASF performance by the developed model. The results showed that the developed numerical method can precisely simulate the CASF processes. CASF is a potential and effective method for offshore heavy oil reservoirs after water flooding. The most suitable gas-liquid ratio was around 2 : 1 under the simulation conditions. Considering the economic benefit, it is significant to optimize the CASF parameters, such as foaming agent concentration, the size of nitrogen foam slug, and the number of chemical injection round.

Migration and plugging characteristics of polymer microsphere and EOR potential in produced-water reinjection of offshore heavy oil reservoirs

Due to the strong heterogeneity, the infaust mobility ratio of offshore heavy oil reservoirs and the high cost of produced water treatment, a “green” in-depth profile control technology was proposed, which integrated produced water reinjection and microsphere in-depth profile control and displacement technology. Experimental results show that RGO-PMSs maintained to be spherical and expanded 5.2–6 time after aging 15 days in brine. While the size of RGO-PMSs aggregation increased 15–25 times, which induced the enhancement of plugging efficiency when permeability was higher than 3000 mD. During RGO-PMSs migration in porous media, it could adjust profile by adsorbing on rock surface or forming plugging in the forms of single capture, bridging, and accumulation. Due to the elastic deformation ability of RGO-PMSs, the particles could enter in-depth reservoirs to form plugging and modulate profile. Moreover, RGO-PMSs system injection and subsequent water flooding could enhance the oil recovery in high permeability layer and low permeability layer of 31.3% and 73.5%, respectively in parallels core displacement experiments. It is believed that the proposed produced water injection combined with RGO-PMSs could be a potential “green” candidate for enhancing oil recovery in offshore heavy oil reservoirs.

The Supercritical Multithermal Fluid Flooding Investigation: Experiments and Numerical Simulation for Deep Offshore Heavy Oil Reservoirs

The supercritical multithermal fluids (SCMTF) were developed for deep offshore heavy oil reservoirs. However, its EOR mechanisms are still unclear, and its numerical simulation method is deficient. In this study, a series of sandpack flooding experiments were first performed to investigate the viability of SCMTF flooding. Then, a novel numerical model for SCMTF flooding was developed based on the experimental results to characterize the flooding processes and to study the effects of injection parameters on oil recovery on a lab scale. Finally, the performance of SCMTF flooding in a practical deep offshore oil field was evaluated through simulation. The experiment results show that the SCMTF flooding gave the highest oil recovery of 80.89%, which was 29.60% higher than that of the steam flooding and 11.09% higher than that of SCW flooding. The history matching process illustrated that the average errors of 3.24% in oil recovery and of 4.33% in pressure difference confirm that the developed numerical model can precisely simulate the dynamic of SCMTF flooding. Increases in temperature, pressure, and the mole ratio of scN2 and scCO2 mixture to SCW benefit the heavy oil production. However, too much increase in temperature resulted in formation damage. In addition, an excess of scN2 and scCO2 contributed to an early SCMTF breakthrough. The field-scale simulation indicated that compared to steam flooding, the SCMTF flooding increased cumulative oil production by 27122 m3 due to higher reservoir temperature, expanded heating area, and lower oil viscosity, suggesting that the SCMTF flooding is feasible in enhancing offshore heavy oil recovery.

Experimental and simulation study of the in situ combustion process in offshore heavy oil reservoirs

A series of kinetics and combustion tube experiments were conducted to investigate the combustion characteristics and performance of in situ combustion (ISC) process for offshore heavy oils. Then, simulation studies were carried out to evaluate the performance of the ISC process in a typical offshore heavy oil reservoir. The results showed that higher heating rates resulted in a shift in the thermogravimetry curves and an increase in the weight loss rate. The oil recovery, oxygen utilization, and air/oil ratio of the combustion experiment are 95.1%, 97.27%, and 547.78 m3/t, respectively. This research will provide technical support for ISC applications in offshore heavy oil reservoirs

Investigation into mobility control mechanisms by polymer flooding in offshore high-permeable heavy oil reservoir

ABSTRACT The systematic understanding of the mobility control of polymer solution in porous media is conducive to the engineering application and development of polymer flooding technology. In this paper, two kinds of polymers (partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) and MJ-10 (a hydrophobically associating polyacrylamide, HAPAM)) with different adsorption characteristics were used to build a solution system with different performance characteristics. And run a series of viscosity measurement, residual resistance factor (RRF) measurement and oil displacement experiments on man-made sand packs. The results show that the viscosity and residual resistance coefficient of polymer solution can enhance its fluidity control. The higher the viscosity of solution, the higher the RRF, and the higher the displacement efficiency. The solution system HM3 can make full use of the solution characteristics of the two polymers to obtain a moderate solution viscosity and residual resistance coefficient. Compared with a single solution H2 and M2, it can increase the oil recovery by 5% in the low permeability layer. The compound application of polymer solution will be a development direction of polymer flooding in the future.