The Applicability of Expanding Solvent Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (ES-SAGD) in Fractured Systems

Abstract

The aim of this contribution is to evaluate the performance of an expanding solvent steam assisted gravity drainage (ES-SAGD) process in naturally fractured systems. Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) and ES-SAGD processes have been investigated in both conventional and fractured reservoir models and the effect of networked fractures on the recovery mechanism and performance of ES-SAGD has been investigated. Operational parameters such as steam quality, vertical distances between wells, and steam injection temperature have been also evaluated. Finally, to study the effect of a well's horizontal offset, a staggered ES-SAGD well configuration has been compared to a stacked ES-SAGD.

Keywords:

• expanding solvent steam-assisted gravity drainage
• fractured reservoirs
• heavy oil recovery
• SAGD