CALCULATION OF TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION IN A RESERVOIR AT THE INITIATION STAGE OF STEAM-ASSISTED GRAVITY DRAINAGE

Abstract

The relevance. The article is devoted to the calculation of temperature distribution in a reservoir using steam-assisted gravity drainage and determination of the heating time of the inter-well zone using a numerical solution of the differential equation of thermal conductivity in a multidimensional formulation of the problem. The use of enhanced oil recovery methods, including the method of steam-assisted gravity drainage, becomes relevant for the production of high-viscosity oil, due to its significant share among the world's hydrocarbon reserves. The existing models for estimating the initiation stage of the process do not take into account the length of the horizontal well, the temperature distribution in the injection well, or the influence of injectors from neighboring development elements. The proposed mathematical model takes into account well interference. The aim of the work is to determine the heating time of the inter-well area, considering the interference of injectors, using a numerical solution of the multidimensional heat equation. Materials and methods. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional problems of thermal conductivity are considered, the temperature in the injection well is considered to vary linearly due to heat losses. Results. The temperature dynamics in one of the producing wells is calculated taking into account the influence of not only the nearest injection wells, but also several injection wells from neighboring development elements. It is shown that the temperature dynamics in the producer for two-dimensional and three-dimensional formulations of the problem correspond to each other, so the temperature distribution in the reservoir does not depend on the angular coordinate. The heating time of the zone between the injector and producer is determined as the time, when oil becomes sufficiently mobile to provide an inflow to the producer.

Keywords

• temperature distribution
• steam-assisted gravity drainage
• thermophysics
• numerical methods
• explicit finite-difference scheme
• three-dimensional problem