Thermal methods for heavy oil and bitumen recovery include the injection of steam in the form of SAGD, CSS, and steam flooding, whereby thermal energy is given to the oil, reduces its viscosity and allows it to flow towards a production spot. Latent heat from the condensing steam carries considerable amounts of energy into the bitumen and helps in heating it up. In novel electromagnetic heating processes, it is proposed that all the latent heat of this steam is to be replaced by electrical heating and boiling of the water in-situ. This technology was proven to be very effective in treatment of contaminated sites but it has yet to be proven in the recovery of bitumen.
The first part of the paper deals with the possible displacement mechanisms of such process. A combination of drainage, imbibition, viscosity reduction and gas expansion are considered to be the primary contributors of this process. Some of the possible problems for such technology are:
is oil at boiling water temperatures mobile enough to flow to a production site via a simple mechanism such as gravity drainage?
Is the detonation that expands water to steam at boiling point enough to push only oil or will it deform the sand?
If water is the source of heating, and phase change eliminates the continuity of heating, how can we continuously keep heating the reservoir?
This work is a very fundamental study of the physics of boiling water in porous media as a potential displacement agent for heavy oil and bitumen. Very simple calculations indicated that the expansion of water into steam could flush oil out of the pore space extremely efficiently. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate through a theoretical approach the feasibility of this mechanism and through very simple illustrative tests the possible realization of the presented theory. The work offers potential alternatives to steam injection, which in turn can offer energy savings for the recovery process.
With the depletion of the conventional oil resources, heavy oil and bitumen play an increasingly important role as the main resource for crude oil. This is particularly true in Alberta since it has in excess of 400 × 109m3 of heavy oil and bitumen reserves [1]. However, the production of heavy oil and bitumen requires more advanced technologies compared to conventional production techniques. To date, the most widely used heavy oil recovery method is the injection of steam into the reservoir. The steam is injected in the forms of SAGD, CSS and steam flooding, whereby thermal energy is given to the oil, reduces its viscosity and allows it to flow towards a production spot. Latent heat from the condensing steam provides considerable energy into the bitumen and helps in heating it up. One of the potential alternatives to steam injection is the electromagnetic heating method for heavy oil and bitumen reservoirs. Electromagnetic heating is a method that can transfer heat to heavy oil reservoirs based on electromagnetic energy [2].
