Russia Has Figured Out How to Increase the Production of High-Viscosity Oil by up to 40%
A way to increase the production of high-viscosity oil by 20-40% was proposed by Tyumen State University scientists. According to the authors of the study, this can be achieved by optimizing the process of cyclic exposure of water vapor to the oil reservoir. The results were published in the Journal of Engineering Physics and Thermophysics.
Today, to increase oil production and ensure Russia’s energy security, it is necessary to increase the efficiency of extracting hydrocarbons from underground formations – an underground porous medium consisting of rock and voids filled with oil and water, scientists from Tyumen State University (TSU) said. We are talking, among other things, about highly viscous oil, which flows poorly to the well and requires special methods to extract.
To reduce the viscosity of oil, you can use the method of steam cyclic exposure. It consists of cyclic injection of hot steam into the formation (injection of steam – holding for steam condensation for heat exchange with oil and the formation – oil production). Tyumen State University researchers have learned to determine the parameters of steam cyclic action taking into account the movement of steam in the formation underground.
“We found that the efficiency of steam-cyclic action and the duration of the process stages are most influenced by the thickness of the formation, the proportion of steam in the injected steam-water mixture and the consumption of injected steam (how much steam we pump in per unit time),” said an employee of the Department of Modeling of Physical Processes and Systems Physics -Technical Institute of Tyumen State University Alexander Gilmanov.
According to him, this allows optimizing the process of pumping steam through a well into the formation and extracting more oil from it, as well as determining the optimal duration of the stages of the process (how long to inject steam, how long to close the well for condensation of steam in the formation and exchange of heat of steam with oil, how long does it take to extract oil?
“Such optimization can increase the amount of oil produced per year by 20-40%. The results of the work can be used to improve Russia’s energy security,” Gilmanov noted.
The researchers note that existing studies of the parameters of steam-cyclic effects using hydrodynamic simulators require specifying a large number of parameters that are not always known, as well as lengthy calculations.
In turn, Tyumen State University scientists proposed a simplified approach to modeling, which for the first time takes into account changes in water density with changes in temperature and pressure. They used mathematical modeling and solving equations using numerical methods on a computer. In the future, the researchers plan to link this model with a model of steam movement through the well and take into account changes in the steam content in the incoming mixture.
The scientists’ results continue the study in 2023. The work was carried out within the framework of the “Priority 2030” program of the national project “Science and Universities.
