Evaluation of Recovery Technologies for the Grosmont Carbonate Reservoirs
- Authors
- Qi Jiang (Osum Oil Sands Corporation) | Jian-Yang Yuan (Osum Oil Sands Corporation) | Jen Russel-Houston (Osum Oil Sands Corporation) | Bruce Thornton (Osum Oil Sands Corporation) | Andrew Squires (Osum Oil Sands Corporation)
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.2118/137779-PA
- Document ID
- SPE-137779-PA
- Publisher
- Society of Petroleum Engineers
- Source
- Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology
- Volume
- 49
- Issue
- 05
- Publication Date
- May 2010
- Document Type
- Journal Paper
- Pages
- 56 - 64
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 0021-9487
- Copyright
- 2010. Society of Petroleum Engineers
- Disciplines
- 4.6 Natural Gas, 5.7.2 Recovery Factors, 5.1.5 Geologic Modeling, 2 Well Completion, 5.4.6 Thermal Methods, 5.8.5 Oil Sand, Oil Shale, Bitumen, 1.10.1 Drill string components and drilling tools (tubulars, jars, subs, stabilisers, reamers, etc), 5.3.9 Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage, 5.4.7 Chemical Flooding Methods (e.g., Polymer, Solvent, Nitrogen, Immiscible CO2, Surfactant, Vapex), 5.3.4 Reduction of Residual Oil Saturation, 5.8.7 Carbonate Reservoir, 5.2.1 Phase Behavior and PVT Measurements, 2.4.3 Sand/Solids Control, 4.3.4 Scale, 1.6.9 Coring, Fishing
- Keywords
- carbonate reservoirs, Grosmont reservoir
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Summary
The Upper Devonian Grosmont formation is a bitumen-saturated, carbonate unit located in Northern Alberta. It is considered to be among the world?s next largest unconventional oil resource plays. Since early 2006, there has been an increased interest in Grosmont resources exhibited by a range of companies, including super-majors.
Several in-situ pilot tests were conducted in the central portion of this area in the 1970s and 1980s, using steam and in-situ combustion processes. Similar to field tests in the McMurray formation oil sands before invention of the Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) process, none of the early recovery technologies tested proved to be economic. Because the "gravity" drainage process has proved successful in commercial development of the McMurray formation oil sands since the mid- to late-1990s, the recovery potential for the Grosmont formation should be re-evaluated, based on improved recovery techniques.
Results from cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) field tests are compared and analyzed to understand the similarity and fundamental differences in reservoir properties between the McMurray formation oil sands and the Grosmont formation carbonate rocks. A preliminary interpretation is provided for laboratory test results for solvent processes applied to Grosmont carbonate cores. The scaling considerations from the laboratory results to field expectations are discussed. The paper also provides a direction for future studies and optimization opportunities for reservoir recovery leading to the commercial development of Grosmont carbonate reservoirs.
| File Size | 2 MB | Number of Pages | 9 |
References
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