Investigating Three-Phase Flow of Steam-Water-Oil in Porous Media for Maximizing SAGD Potential: A New Measurement Technique

研究多孔介质中蒸汽-水-油的三相流以最大化 SAGD 潜力：一种新的测量技术

• 批准号: RGPIN-2014-06105
• 负责人: Dehghanpour, Hassan
• 金额: $ 1.82万
• 依托单位: University of Alberta
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=648923
• 关键词: Investigating; Three; Phase; Flow; Steam

The proposed research program develops a novel laboratory technique and procedure for fundamental study of three-phase flow in porous media. The measured data will be used for prediction and optimization of in-situ thermal recovery methods for oil production from Canada's heavy oil and bitumen resources. More than 300 billion cubic meters of viscous bitumen exist in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Only one-third of this huge resource is enough to meet the hydrocarbon requirements of all of North America for more than 100 years. However, only 20% of this resource is accessible through surface mining. The other 80% requires in-situ methods such as Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD). SAGD has been proved to be the most successful in-situ recovery method for heavy oil and bitumen recovery in Canada. In SAGD, steam, steam-condensate, and oil simultaneously flow through the rock pore space. Mathematical modelling and optimizing such processes require careful measurement of flow conductance (relative permeability) and residual saturation of each phase in the laboratory. However, laboratory determination of relative permeability curves for steam, oil, and water is very challenging due to difficulties in phase saturation (i.e., volumetric fraction) measurement. The main challenge is to distinguish between the water and oil phases, which have similar densities. Phase A of this research develops a novel non-destructive method for measuring the saturation of oil, water and steam simultaneously flowing through a porous medium confined inside a core holder. In this method, the total oil and water saturation (So + Sw) is measured by a x-ray based technique, and water saturation (Sw) is measured by a capacitance (described by dielectric constant) based technique. The dielectric constant of water is several times higher than that of oil, which allows computing the fraction of each phase. The three-phase saturations measured in time and space will be interpreted and modelled to obtain three-phase relative permeabilities for each point in the saturation space. Phase B of the research develops mathematical techniques to use the measured data to evaluate, predict and optimize the performance of field-scale SAGD projects. The existing models for steam chamber development rate will be improved to account for the physics of three-phase flow, which is an inevitable phenomenon during steam-based in-stue recovery processes. **The results of this study, which will be conducted by two PhD and two MSc students is anticipated to develop an improved understanding of complex dynamic phenomena occurring during simultaneous flow of steam, water, and oil in porous media. Modelling three-phase oil relative permeability in the presence of steam condensation phenomenon is a challenging problem, which will be studied by conducting careful laboratory measurements in the proposed research program. In addition to the scientific impacts, this research will help the oil industry to estimate the amount of oil remaining in the reservoir after the operations and to develop complementary techniques for recovering the remaining oil. Predicting and extending the economic life SAGD projects are important strategically since there are many mature SAGD steam chambers in Canada containing a significant amount of oil and heat energy. Therefore, the outcomes of this research will help the industry indirectly to 1) reduce the cost and environmental impacts per barrel of oil produced.

拟议的研究计划开发了一种新颖的实验室技术和程序，用于多孔介质中三相流的基础研究。测量数据将用于预测和优化加拿大重油和沥青资源的石油生产的原位热采方法。艾伯塔省和萨斯喀彻温省拥有超过 3000 亿立方米的粘性沥青。这一巨大资源中仅三分之一就足以满足整个北美地区100多年的碳氢化合物需求。然而，只有 20% 的资源可以通过露天采矿获得。另外 80% 需要现场方法，例如蒸汽辅助重力排水 (SAGD)。 SAGD已被证明是加拿大重油和沥青开采最成功的原位开采方法。在 SAGD 中，蒸汽、蒸汽凝结水和石油同时流过岩石孔隙空间。数学建模和优化此类过程需要在实验室中仔细测量各相的流导（相对渗透率）和残余饱和度。然而，由于相饱和度（即体积分数）测量的困难，实验室确定蒸汽、油和水的相对渗透率曲线非常具有挑战性。主要挑战是区分密度相似的水相和油相。这项研究的第一阶段开发了一种新颖的无损方法，用于测量同时流经岩心支架内的多孔介质的油、水和蒸汽的饱和度。在此方法中，总油水饱和度 (So + Sw) 通过基于 X 射线的技术测量，水饱和度 (Sw) 通过基于电容（由介电常数描述）的技术测量。水的介电常数比油高几倍，因此可以计算各相的分数。对时间和空间上测量的三相饱和度进行解释和建模，以获得饱和度空间中每个点的三相相对磁导率。该研究的 B 阶段开发数学技术，利用测量数据来评估、预测和优化现场规模 SAGD 项目的性能。现有的蒸汽室发育速率模型将得到改进，以考虑三相流的物理现象，这是基于蒸汽的现场采油过程中不可避免的现象。 **这项研究将由两名博士生和两名硕士生进行，预计将加深对多孔介质中蒸汽、水和油同时流动过程中发生的复杂动态现象的理解。在存在蒸汽凝结现象的情况下对三相油相对渗透率进行建模是一个具有挑战性的问题，将通过在拟议的研究计划中进行仔细的实验​​室测量来研究这一问题。除了科学影响外，这项研究还将帮助石油行业估计作业后油藏中剩余的石油量，并开发回收剩余石油的补充技术。预测和延长 SAGD 项目的经济寿命具有重要的战略意义，因为加拿大有许多成熟的 SAGD 蒸汽室，蕴藏着大量的石油和热能。因此，这项研究的结果将间接帮助该行业：1）降低每桶石油生产的成本和环境影响。