Thermal Oil Recovery With Horizontal Wells (includes associated papers 24403 and 24957 )
Authors: Joshi S.D. 
Published: December 2007

"A 2,000- to 4,000-ft-long horizontal wellcan replace several vertical wells, reducinginvestment and operational costs."

Introduction

Horizontal-well technology is now beingused in EOR projects, especially in thermaloil recovery. Although horizontal wells haverecently been used in miscible and water-floodprojects, the main EOR applications to dateare in steam projects. Several horizontalwells have been drilled as pilot projectsfor thermal oil recovery in bitumen andheavy-oil reservoirs. A few field pilotsshow commercial viability. Thermal oil recovery is used to produceheavy oil or bitumen in high-permeabilityreservoirs. The main advantages of the useof horizontal wells are improved sweep efficiency, enhanced producible reserves, increased steam injectivity, and a decrease inthe number of wells required for fielddevelopment. This last point is especiallyimportant in thermal oil recovery projects, where several closely spaced vertical wellsare required for economic development. A2,000- to 4,000-ft-long horizontal well canreplace several vertical wells, reducinginvestment and operational costs. The maindisadvantage of horizontal wells is theirinitial cost. Moreover, horizontal wells arecommonly completed in only one zone ata time, resulting in drainage of only onelayer. Horizontal wells have been completedin multiple zones, although not yet in thermaloil recovery applications. In bitumen reservoirs, attaining reasonableproduction rates without steaming is difficultbecause of the high oil viscosity. (Bitumenis oil with less than 10API gravity anda viscosity of more than 10,000 cp atreservoir conditions.) Steam injectivityalso can be a problem. Even with horizontalwells, initial steam cycling normally will benecessary to establish steam injectivity. Incontrast, in heavy-oil reservoirs, wells canbe produced at low rates even without steaminjection. (Heavy oil has a gravity of morethan 10API and a viscosity of less than10,000 cp at reservoir conditions.) Here, steam injection with horizontal wells isprimarily to enhance production rates, toimprove sweep efficiency, and to increaseultimate oil recovery.

Injectors or Producers

Horizontal wells can be used as injectors orproducers. The large contact area ofhorizontal wells can enhance injection ratesin injection wells and improve productionrates in producing wells. When horizontal wells are used as producers, they providea large producing capacity with highproduction rates. Hence, high steam injectionrates in surrounding injection wells arenecessary to maintain reservoir pressure. Whenhorizontal wells are used as injectors, theninjecting steam uniformly along the well length occasionally may be difficult, espeially during the initial steam-injection period. This is because steam condensation ina cold horizontal well reduces the welllength available for steam injection. Thisproblem can be reduced or eliminated bypreheating a long horizontal wellbore beforesteam injection. In field applications, excluding cyclicsteam stimulation, horizontal wells are usedmore often as producers than as injectors. In horizontal producers, at least initiallybefore the heat front arrives and the entire wellbore is heated, only cold heavy oil maybe produced. The pressure drop in the longwellbore can be significant because of thehigh viscosity of the cold oil, which maycause uneven production along the welllength.

Recovery Process Concepts

Horizontal wells provide flexibility indeveloping well patterns for enhancing theweep efficiency of thermal oil recovery. Itpossible to drill a long horizontal well, or to re-enter an existing vertical well and drill short drainholes 100 to 300 ft long)to enhance steam injectivity and/or oilproductivity. This procedure can beespeially useful in multilayered reservoirswhere a specific zone can be developed witha minimum number of vertical wells. In multilayered heavy-oil reservoirs, suchis those in South America, production insome zones is delayed because of theunavailability of producing wells. In thesemultilayered reservoirs, the number of wells required to drain several zonessimultaneously is too large.

JPT

P. 1302⁁