Objective
Steam injection is the most technically proved eor method with numerous developments at field level in heavy oil deposits mainly in USA, Venezuela, Canada.
However all these operations are implemented in sandstone reservoirs and there was no experience of steam injection in carbonated reservoirs which are in addition often fractured ones. The lacq superieur project was aimed at testing steam injection methods in this kind of heterogeneous carbonated reservoir.
The results showed a good efficiency of heat transfer inside the reservoir in spite of an irregular swwping of the pilot area and the carbonate decomposition by steam.
A numerical reservoir description with a "fissure-matrix" configuration enabled simulation results to be improved.
This steamdrive pilot is considered as a technical success and the steam is now being injected in two patterns
Upper lacq oil field discovered on 1949 exhibits very heterogeneous facies : either porous calcareous rocks with a low permeability or dolomites with a low porosity but a high permeability through the fissure network.In the fractured zones after an initial high anhydrous production rate the wells showed a fast decline in oil production when water from the underlying aquifer invaded them. After a laboratory research program steam injection was selected as the most favorable for process.A reservoir study and reference field tests were performed to choose a pilot site and to define operating conditions. A steam injection well drilled surface equipment was installed and a steam drive pilot protect started in october 1977.
A stable steam injection rate of 175t/day has been maintained only three months after injection began the oil production rate of some wells increased significantly and the maximum oil production was observed in mid 1979.
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DEM - Demonstration contractsCoordinator
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