| Some heavy oils are sufficiently mobile to be produced through primary production under solution gas drive. In these systems, typical recovery factors are less than 5%, however when sand production is encouraged, production rates can improve up to ten times their primary production levels. Even with the enhanced production, this production technique known as Cold Heavy Oil Production with Sand (CHOPS), recovery factors remain low generally ranging from 5 to 15%. With overall heavy oil production projected to decrease by 50% over the next decade, follow-up processes are required to sustain and raise recovery factor. To design effective follow-up processes requires reliable models which represent the key physics of CHOPS are needed. As yet, there are no models that have been developed that contain all of the key physics plus provide a dynamic means to represent wormhole growth within the formation as the process evolves. The research documented in this thesis focuses on the development of a comprehensive model for CHOPS. The key outcomes of the research are 1. the development of a new fundamental model for CHOPS which captures the main drive mechanisms of CHOPS, 2. validation of the model through history matching industry supplied field data, and 3. the use of the model in a Cyclic Solvent Injection (CSI) follow-up process to CHOPS. |
