Evaluation of the First Field Piloting of the THAI Process: Athabasca Pilot
Notice bibliographique
Résumé
Objectives/Scope The paper describes the first field piloting of the Toe-To-Heel Air Injection (THAI) process - a novel in-situ combustion (ISC) process, which uses vertical air injectors and horizontal producers. The pilot (located in the Athabasca region of Canada) consisted of three adjacent pairs of vertical-horizontal well arranged in a direct line drive configuration, with a lateral spacing of 100m. Methods, Procedures, Process An in-depth analysis was performed for the determination of the ignition delay during initiation of the ISC via enhanced spontaneous ignition using a steam slug injection. Numerous bottomhole temperatures (BHT) recordings from 11 observation wells allowed to establish the loss of air in an upper formation and the lateral development of the burned zone. Using many thermocouples located along the horizontal section of producers, the determination of the ISC front advancement along the horizontal drains was possible. Based on this, a rough estimate of the volumetric sweep was made. Due to sand influx and other factors, all horizontal producers were replaced; the period of air injection stoppage - during the drilling of replacement producers – caused a substantial modification of the process. Results, Observations, Conclusions Initiation of ISC process by spontaneous ignition occurred within 1-2 months. A robust ISC was generated and sustained during the five-year piloting. Oxygen utilization was almost 100%, indicating a remarkable stability of the process. The lateral development of the burned zone was limited, within 20 m laterally off the horizontal producer trajectory. The ISC front advanced approximately half of the distance toe-heel, along the horizontal section. Loss of air vertically, led to the formation of a secondary ISC front in an upper formation with no production outlets (production wells). This loss of air and the presence of a thin bottom water zone (from which a significant amount of water was produced) decreased the efficiency of the process. During the air injection interruption (3-4 months), a pronounced pressure decline in the burnt-out zone caused its oil re-saturation leading to coke deposition and blockage; subsequent ISC front propagation along the replacement wells was not satisfactory and these wells did not improve the performance. The pilot confirmed the laboratory findings regarding the production of in-situ upgraded oil and, revealed that THAI generates significant amounts of hydrogen as part of the produced gases. Upgrading of the produced oil was in the range of 2° to 8° API., while the oil viscosity decreased 220 times, from 550,000cp to 2500cP The oil recovery from the pilot was estimated at 7%. In its stabilized phase, the effective oil rate per well was 10-20 m3/day, as compared with 3-4 m3/day in all previous old ISC trials in Athabasca. The air-oil ratio was in the range of 5,000 to 6,000 sm3/m3. Novel/Additive Information It is the first time that day-by-day in-situ upgrading is fully validated in the oil field. Therefore, THAI is the first EOR process fully proven for producing underground upgraded oil without using any additional exterior heat sources.
Récupéré en direct depuis OpenAlex et désinversé. Les résumés ne sont pas conservés dans cette base de données : les index inversés représentent 8,6 Go des 9,3 Go de texte de la base, et le serveur dispose de 13 Go libres.
Comment cette classification a été obtenuedéplier
Prédiction machine sur la base complète
Imitation des enseignantsNi prévalence calibrée, ni vérité terrain. Validation humaine à venir. Le volet Gemma est une étiquette directe du modèle pour chaque travail de la base, lue sur la notice réduite au titre. Le volet Codex est un classifieur appris des 10 348 étiquettes directes de Codex et calibré sur les taux pondérés de l'échantillon; les champs sans appui suffisant ne portent aucun appel Codex. Le mode candidate est l'union des deux volets; le consensus est leur intersection. Ces sorties portent le statut machine_predicted_unvalidated et ne sont pas des étiquettes humaines.
Scores du classifieur distillé par catégorie (deux têtes)
| Catégorie | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Métarecherche | 0,001 | 0,001 |
| Méta-épidémiologie (sens strict) | 0,001 | 0,000 |
| Méta-épidémiologie (sens large) | 0,000 | 0,000 |
| Bibliométrie | 0,000 | 0,000 |
| Études des sciences et des technologies | 0,001 | 0,000 |
| Communication savante | 0,001 | 0,000 |
| Science ouverte | 0,001 | 0,001 |
| Intégrité de la recherche | 0,001 | 0,001 |
| Charge utile insuffisante (le modèle a refusé de juger) | 0,002 | 0,000 |
Scores machine (provisoires)
Les deux têtes enseignantes du modèle étudiant, lues sur ce travail. Un score ordonne la base pour la relecture; il n'affirme jamais une catégorie, et le statut de validation accompagne chaque rangée tel quel.
Scores de référence d'un modèle non mature (critères de maturité non atteints, 7 itérations). Un score ordonne; il n'affirme jamais une catégorie.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · tel quel depuis la passe de notation : score_only signifie que le nombre peut ordonner les travaux, et qu'aucune étiquette de catégorie n'en découleClassification
machine, non validéePrédiction automatique; un appel candidat d’une seule source (Gemma direct ou Codex distillé), pas un consensus.
Le détail, modèle par modèle et score par score, se trouve en fin de page sous « Comment cette classification a été obtenue ».