Economical evaluation of heavy oil production from the Brazilian Northeast

ABSTRACT

The technology involved for the recovery of heavy oils demands an insightful study of their technical and economic viability to make possible its implementation. Hence, this research proposes a study of the effects of managing the steam injection rate (Q_inj), from the time the steam arrives to the producer well (steam breakthrough), in the oil recovery factor (RF), and net present value (NPV). For reaching these goals, numerical simulations were performed by using a heavy oil reservoir model representative of the Brazilian Northeast. By varying operational parameters, the behavior of the oil recovery factor and NPV was evaluated, for 15 years. Results showed that the injection of low steam injection rates, from the breakthrough time, resulted in improving the RF. Hence, this condition also promotes an improvement in the NPV, especially when there was injected 5 t/day after the breakthrough time.

KEYWORDS:

• Economic evaluation
• heavy oil
• numerical simulation
• steam injection
• thermal method

Acknowledgments

Authors would like to thank to CMG (Computer Modelling Group) for the simulator; LEAP (Laboratório de Estudos Avançados de Petróleo) for the infrastructure used to develop this research; Petrobras and ANP (PRH-14), which have given support to this research; and professors from PPGCEP (Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência e Engenharia de Petróleo).