Estudo da configuração de poços no processo de drenagem gravitacional assistida por vapor (SAGD) em reservatórios do nordeste brasileiro

Abstract

New technologies that use the enhanced oil recovery emerged the need to remove the oil that remains in the reservoir after primary recovery. The goal of these methods is to increase the oil recovery factor. Thus, some projects start to become economically viable when using these methods. The thermal methods, including steam injection, promote the recovery of oil through the thermal energy within the insert reservoir. The increased temperature causes the oil to have its viscosity reduced, thereby increasing its speed towards the production wells. The steam assisted gravity drainage process (SAGD) is an advanced method of recovery. Its configuration has two parallel horizontal wells, one above the other. The steam is injected continuously during the injection well, and then forms a steam chamber which grows to find the limits of the reservoir. This oil is then reduced its viscosity and, by the action of gravitational forces, it is drained toward the producing well. In this context, this study aimed to carry out a study of different configurations of injection wells in SAGD process, considering the effects of load loss and heat in the injection well in the Brazilian northeast reservoirs. A factorial design was used to investigate the influence of the parameters studied in the recovery factor. It also performed an economic analysis of the technical settings of injection wells in order to analyze the profitability of the projects studied. To perform the numerical simulations we used the thermal simulator CMG STARS (Computer Modelling Group). The results showed that the inclined injection wells had a lower production compared to the configuration with horizontal wells. A setting producer injectors offset from the well (W-SAGD) for injection flowrates from 100 ton/day, led to the formation of a vapor chamber larger and more efficient. It was also observed that the use of vertical injection wells (VSAGD), for larger flowrates, showed a lower cumulative production of oil, however, similar to SAGD injector well horizontally. In the economic analysis, the SAGD model showed the highest NPVs.