Experimental and Mechanism Study of Superheated SAGD vs. Conventional SAGD Technique: A Cost-Effective Scheme for Superheated SAGD

Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) is one of the steam injection techniques to exploit heavy oil and extra heavy oil resources, where the nature of steam is crucial to the production efficiency. Replacing saturated steam with superheated steam can effectively improve the steam quality at the bot...

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Main Authors: Ke Huang, Siyuan Huang, Qi Jiang, Yang Liu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2022-01-01
Series:Geofluids
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2022/1966959
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author Ke Huang
Siyuan Huang
Qi Jiang
Yang Liu
author_facet Ke Huang
Siyuan Huang
Qi Jiang
Yang Liu
author_sort Ke Huang
collection DOAJ
description Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) is one of the steam injection techniques to exploit heavy oil and extra heavy oil resources, where the nature of steam is crucial to the production efficiency. Replacing saturated steam with superheated steam can effectively improve the steam quality at the bottom of the well and the production efficiency. In this study, based on the 2-D SAGD experiments, the recovery mechanisms of SAGD under the 220°C saturated steam and 260°C (superheated degree of 40°C) and 300°C (superheated degree of 80°C) superheated steam are compared and analyzed. The numerical model was developed based on experimental results, and the influence of steam superheated degree on the recovery degree of the SAGD process was further investigated. The physical experiment results and numerical simulation results show that the advantages of high enthalpy and large specific volume of superheated steam are significant at the horizontal expansion stage of the steam chamber stage compared to those of saturated steam. However, although the superheated steam can improve the recovery degree, the economic efficiency may decrease with the addition of superheated steam since it requires higher energy to generate the superheated steam. Thus, the SOR (steam-oil ratio) cannot appropriately describe the energy and economic efficiency when superheated steam is considered. Therefore, the cumulative FOR (fuel-oil ratio) is proposed, and the optimal superheated degree, optimal injection strategy, and its relation with the recovery mechanisms are studied. The results indicate that using superheated steam at 80°C superheated degree during the steam chamber horizontal expansion stage can increase the recovery factor around 12% and also reduce the cumulative FOR around 5.3 compared to the conventional SAGD strategy.
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spelling doaj-art-5f331c1060384bcb9b78141160112a342025-02-03T05:50:18ZengWileyGeofluids1468-81232022-01-01202210.1155/2022/1966959Experimental and Mechanism Study of Superheated SAGD vs. Conventional SAGD Technique: A Cost-Effective Scheme for Superheated SAGDKe Huang0Siyuan Huang1Qi Jiang2Yang Liu3Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering DepartmentPetroleum and Natural Gas Engineering DepartmentPetroleum and Natural Gas Engineering DepartmentResearch Institute of Petroleum Exploration and DevelopmentSteam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) is one of the steam injection techniques to exploit heavy oil and extra heavy oil resources, where the nature of steam is crucial to the production efficiency. Replacing saturated steam with superheated steam can effectively improve the steam quality at the bottom of the well and the production efficiency. In this study, based on the 2-D SAGD experiments, the recovery mechanisms of SAGD under the 220°C saturated steam and 260°C (superheated degree of 40°C) and 300°C (superheated degree of 80°C) superheated steam are compared and analyzed. The numerical model was developed based on experimental results, and the influence of steam superheated degree on the recovery degree of the SAGD process was further investigated. The physical experiment results and numerical simulation results show that the advantages of high enthalpy and large specific volume of superheated steam are significant at the horizontal expansion stage of the steam chamber stage compared to those of saturated steam. However, although the superheated steam can improve the recovery degree, the economic efficiency may decrease with the addition of superheated steam since it requires higher energy to generate the superheated steam. Thus, the SOR (steam-oil ratio) cannot appropriately describe the energy and economic efficiency when superheated steam is considered. Therefore, the cumulative FOR (fuel-oil ratio) is proposed, and the optimal superheated degree, optimal injection strategy, and its relation with the recovery mechanisms are studied. The results indicate that using superheated steam at 80°C superheated degree during the steam chamber horizontal expansion stage can increase the recovery factor around 12% and also reduce the cumulative FOR around 5.3 compared to the conventional SAGD strategy.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2022/1966959
spellingShingle Ke Huang
Siyuan Huang
Qi Jiang
Yang Liu
Experimental and Mechanism Study of Superheated SAGD vs. Conventional SAGD Technique: A Cost-Effective Scheme for Superheated SAGD
Geofluids
title Experimental and Mechanism Study of Superheated SAGD vs. Conventional SAGD Technique: A Cost-Effective Scheme for Superheated SAGD
title_full Experimental and Mechanism Study of Superheated SAGD vs. Conventional SAGD Technique: A Cost-Effective Scheme for Superheated SAGD
title_fullStr Experimental and Mechanism Study of Superheated SAGD vs. Conventional SAGD Technique: A Cost-Effective Scheme for Superheated SAGD
title_full_unstemmed Experimental and Mechanism Study of Superheated SAGD vs. Conventional SAGD Technique: A Cost-Effective Scheme for Superheated SAGD
title_short Experimental and Mechanism Study of Superheated SAGD vs. Conventional SAGD Technique: A Cost-Effective Scheme for Superheated SAGD
title_sort experimental and mechanism study of superheated sagd vs conventional sagd technique a cost effective scheme for superheated sagd
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2022/1966959
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AT qijiang experimentalandmechanismstudyofsuperheatedsagdvsconventionalsagdtechniqueacosteffectiveschemeforsuperheatedsagd
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