Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology
Volume 49, Number 7, July 2010, pp. 28-35

SPE-139476-PA

Numerical Simulation and Economic Evaluation of Hybrid Solvent Processes

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DOI  More information 10.2118/139476-PA http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/139476-PA

Citation

  • Frauenfeld, T., Jossy, C., and Ivory, J. 2010. Numerical Simulation and Economic Evaluation of Hybrid Solvent Processes. J Can Pet Technol  49 (7): 28-35. SPE-139476-PA. doi: 10.2118/139476-PA.

Discipline Categories

  • 6.4.10 Steam-Solvent Combination Methods
  • 6.5 Reservoir Simulation

Keywords

  • hybrid solvent processes, heavy oil, numerical simulation

Summary

Solvent-based processes for recovery of heavy oil and bitumen have potential application to a variety of reservoir situations. Potential processes range from steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) to VAPEX, with a range of hybrid processes in between. Over 50 laboratory-scale and 80 field-scale simulations were run to determine optimum operating points for various hybrid processes. The results showed that steam-butane simulations yielded two "sweet spots" where the cost objective function was lower than that for SAGD. Economic analysis was done based on a set of field-scale simulations. This analysis showed that a hybrid solvent process for an Athabasca reservoir was an alternative to SAGD. The analysis may be extended to other reservoir types as needed.

© 2010. Society of Petroleum Engineers

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History

  • Original manuscript received: 27 March 2009
  • Meeting paper published: 17 June 2009
  • Revised manuscript received: 5 May 2010
  • Manuscript approved: 11 May 2010
  • Published online: 1 July 2010
  • Version of record: 1 June 2010