Advanced Modeling and Simulation Techniques for Heavy Oil and Oil Sands Reservoirs

阿尔伯塔拥有1740亿桶的油砂储量，使加拿大成为全球探明或可采原油储量最多的三个国家之一--沿着沙特阿拉伯和委内瑞拉并列。回收这些资源的关键问题是：回收这些资源的最佳技术是什么？可持续复苏在哪里以及如何得到改善？有多少是可收回的？目前油砂储量的主要生产方法包括开采和提高石油采收率（EOR）方法。阿尔伯塔90%以上的巨大能源都蕴藏在地下深处，无法在地表开采。因此，必须使用EOR方法将糖蜜状沥青，即“未加工的”重质原油，诱导至表面。用于重油和油砂储量的常用EOR方法是热采方法，例如蒸汽辅助重力泄油（SAGD）和循环蒸汽刺激（CSS）。这些方法利用了油相粘度对温度的依赖性。这些过程对环境的影响以及在这些过程中使用大量的水和天然气表明，需要进行广泛的研究，以实现这些储层的经济和环境友好型开发。

Alberta's 174 billion barrels of established oil sands reserves make Canada one of the top three countries globally - along with Saudi Arabia and Venezuela - in terms of proven or recoverable crude oil reserves. The key questions in recovering these resources are: What is the best technology available to recover them? Where and how can sustainable recovery be improved? How much is recoverable? The current major production methods for oil sands reserves include mining and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods. More than 90% of the vast energy resources in Alberta is found in deposits too deep underground to be mined at the surface. Thus the EOR methods must be used to coax the molasses-like bitumen, the "raw" heavy crude oil, to the surface. The commonly used EOR methods for heavy oil and oil sands reserves are thermal recovery methods such as steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) and cyclic steam stimulation (CSS). These methods take advantage of the dependence of the oil phase viscosity on temperature. Environmental impacts of these processes and the use of a high volume of water and natural gas in them suggest that extensive research is required for the economical and environmentally friendly development of these reservoirs.