In-Situ Combustion from pilot to commercial application

Course outline

This is a two-day course and will cover the reservoir engineering aspects of oil recovery by in-situ combustion (ISC), with emphasis on both the ISC fundamentals, physical simulation, and the field applications, including piloting and commercial scale. The use of horizontal wells in combination with in-situ combustion will be covered, as well. The first 9 chapters will be part of the main 2-day course, while the last chapter (chapter 10) can be presented separately. The course outline is as follows:

1. Qualitative Description of In-Situ Combustion Techniques
   • Forward and Reverse Combustion
   • Dry, Wet and Superwet Combustion
   • Segregated In-Situ Combustion
   • Cyclic In-Situ Combustion
   • New approaches to In-Situ Combustion Process (THAI, COSH and Top-Down ISC)
2. The Mechanisms of the Forward Combustion
   • The Main Chemical Reactions. HTO and LTO
   • Kinetics of oxidation
   • Calculation of the Apparent Atomic H/C ratio
   • Fuel Availability and Air Requirement. Influence of LTO
3. The Laws of the ISC Front Propagation
   • Dry Combustion
   • Wet and Superwet Combustion
   • Enriched Air ISC
4. Basic ISC Laboratory Tests
   • Ramped Temperature Oxidation (RTO) of Oil in Porous Media
   • Isothermal Oxidation of Oil in Porous Media.
   • Spontaneous Ignition
   • ARC technique and other techniques (TGA, DSC)
   • Combustion Front Propagation in a One-Dimensional
   • Cell –Combusion Tube Tests
5. Theoretical Aspects and Modelling of ISC
   • 3-D Physical Models, Including those with Horizontal Producers
   • Analytical Models
   • Numerical Models; numerical simulation strategy
   • Main limitations of the Models
6. Design of an ISC Field Project. Operation Procedures
   • Start up operations (preparations)
   • Ignition Operation
   • Injection Program
   • Performance Prediction Methods: Nelson & McNiel,Gates and Ramey, SelectEOR, etc.
   • The most important parameters
7. Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation of an ISC Pilot
   • Screening Criteria
   • Line Drive versus Pattern Application
   • Choosing the Best Location of the Pilot
   • Tracking the ISC Front. Gas Analyses, BHT Measurements and Coring Wells in the Burned Zone
   • Evaluation of Air/Oil Ratio and Incremental Oil Recovery
   • To go or NOT to go to the commercial scale?
8. Operation/Facilities Problems and Remedies
   • Burning back the injector
   • Risk of explosion
   • Pollution by C and N oxides
   • Corrosion
   • Emulsion
   • Sand production
   • Poor injectivity/productivity
   • Severe gas production
   • Sources of failure
9. Current Status of ISC Projects. Commercial Application
   • The World’s Most Significant Commercial ISC Applications as of 1994 and as of 2005
   • Medium Oil Shallow Reservoir Applications
   • Horizontal Wells in ISC Processes
   • Field Piloting of the Toe-To-Heel Air Injection (THAI Process); COSH, COGD and Topdown ISC
   • Cyclic ISC Applications
10. ISC Process: How SelectEOR 1.0 Software Handles the Screening and Prediction
    • General presentation of SelectEOR software
    • Screening criteria for ISC application to heavy oil reservoirs (reservoir characteristics, fluid characteristics, reservoir history, etc.)
    • Screening criteria for other thermal methods (CSS, steam drive, and SAGD)
    • ISC prediction performance in SelectEOR: upsides and downsides (limitations)
    • "Hands on" SelectEOR running of one case involving data from a target field