Methods for application of reservoir conditioning in petroleum reservoirs
AssigneeExxonMobil Upstream Research Company
InventorsDavid P. Yale, Thomas J. Boone, Richard J. Smith
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and apparatuses for recovering heavy oil that, at least in one embodiment, include conditioning a reservoir of interest, then initially producing fluids and particulate solids such as sand to increase reservoir access. The initial production may generate high permeability channels or wormholes in the formation, which may be used for heavy oil production processes such as cold flow (CHOPS) or enhanced production processes such as SAGD, or VAPEX.
Claims26
A method for obtaining heavy oil by increasing access to a subsurface formation, comprising:
- accessing from a location, a subsurface formation having an overburden stress disposed thereon, the subsurface formation comprising heavy oil and uncemented sands;
- conditioning throughout the subsurface formation from the location by increasing fluid pressure throughout the subsurface formation to develop a relatively constant fluid pressure within the subsurface formation, wherein the conditioning relieves the overburden stress to allow at least a portion of the uncemented sands to become mobile;
- initially producing from the location a portion of the uncemented sands made mobile by the conditioning and at least one fluid from the subsurface formation to increase access to the subsurface formation, wherein the step of initially producing utilizes the increased fluid pressure in the subsurface formation;
- and
- producing from the location at least a portion of the heavy oil from the subsurface formation utilizing the increased access.
A method for recovering heavy oil, comprising:
- accessing from a location, a subsurface formation having an overburden stress disposed thereon, the subsurface formation comprising heavy oil and uncemented sands;
- conditioning throughout the subsurface formation from the location using fluids to increase fluid pressure throughout the subsurface formation to develop a relatively constant fluid pressure within the subsurface formation, wherein the conditioning relieves the overburden stress to allow at least a portion of the uncemented sands to become mobile;
- and
- increasing access to the subsurface formation utilizing the increased fluid pressure in the subsurface formation by producing from the location a portion of the uncemented sands and fluids from the conditioned subsurface formation.
A method for obtaining bitumen by increasing access to an oil sand subsurface formation, comprising:
- accessing from a location the oil sand subsurface formation having an overburden stress disposed thereon, the oil sand subsurface formation comprising bitumen and one or more solids;
- conditioning the oil sand subsurface formation from the location by increasing fluid pressure in the oil sand subsurface formation, wherein the conditioning results in the mean effective stress of the subsurface formation decreasing while the differential stress increases;
- initially producing from the location only a portion of the bitumen and one or more solids and at least one fluid from the oil sand subsurface formation to increase access to the oil sand subsurface formation, wherein the step of initially producing utilizes the increased fluid pressure in the oil sand subsurface formation;
- and
- producing from the location at least a portion of the bitumen and one or more solids from the oil sand subsurface formation utilizing the increased access.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.