Abstract
In recent decades, oil producing countries have focused their efforts on incorporating new oil and gas reserves that support their long-term economic plans. An oil peak production in 2020 has been forecast by Belani (2006), and the challenge to find more reserves becomes greater as statistically the conventional to unconventional oil and gas resources ratio (2:8) may suggest that most conventional oil resources have been already found (Zou et al., 2015). This situation has risen concerns among oil dependent countries but have opened the gates for the development of unconventional oil resources in developed countries such as Canada, USA, China, etc (Belani, 2006). Crude bitumen is one kind of unconventional oil that poses a significant opportunity for development in Ecuador. According to a report by Gaffney, Cline & Associates (GCA) and Ivanhoe Energy in 2009, the Pungarayacu Field (Block 20) holds 6.4 billion barrels of oil initially in place (OIIP) and is considered the largest unconventional asset in the country. The challenge for its development consists of overcoming a low oil mobility associated to high oil density (ranging from 8 to 10 API) and viscosity values.
This work presents the application of Radio-Frequency (RF) for hydrocarbons thermal heating as an alternative for extra heavy oil recovery enhancement in the crude bitumen deposits of Pungarayacu Field in Ecuador. The activities conducted in this study include an approach to investigate, experiment and model the bahaviour of the reservoir temperature at a small scale under the influence of heat generated by microwaves. The study will demonstrate that hydrocarbon heating through the use of radio frequency represents a valid alternative for heavy oil extraction and discuss its feasibility based on an energy consumption analysis and some comparisons with upscaled projects using Steam Injection technology.
