Pilot project taps tar sand reservoir in Texas
Texas Tar Sands Ltd. (TTS) has placed a pilot tar sand recovery project on production in Maverick County, Texas, following the start of steam injection late in 1983. Recovery of the minus 2 gravity tar has averaged 200 to 300 bpd, with peak production exceeding 500 bpd. A coal fired, fluidized bed steam generator provides steam for an injection well in an inverted 5-spot pattern. TTS drilled each of the wells to ca 2000 ft and perforated the San Miguel at 1750 to 1800 ft. All wells were hydraulically fractured. Because the San Miguel is subject to plastic flow, steam was injected immediately after fracturing to float the formation, holding the fractures open. Casing was prestressed to prevent failure due to thermal expansion during steaming. The tar, at reservoir conditions of 100 F and 750 psi, is not permeable enough to allow steam or other hot fluids to pass through the formation. However, steaming forms a permeable zone around the fractures. The firm expects to produce all recoverable tar from the pilot pattern in approx. one year.
- OSTI ID:
- 6453618
- Journal Information:
- Oil Gas J.; (United States), Vol. 82:28
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
BITUMENS
RECOVERY
OIL SANDS
HYDRAULIC FRACTURING
STEAM INJECTION
TEXAS
COAL
FLUIDIZED-BED COMBUSTION
INJECTION WELLS
PERFORATION
PERMEABILITY
RESERVOIR PRESSURE
RESERVOIR ROCK
RESERVOIR TEMPERATURE
STEAM GENERATORS
VISCOSITY
WELLS
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
BOILERS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMBUSTION
COMMINUTION
ENERGY SOURCES
FEDERAL REGION VI
FLUID INJECTION
FOSSIL FUELS
FRACTURING
FUELS
MATERIALS
NORTH AMERICA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDATION
TAR
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
USA
VAPOR GENERATORS
040401* - Oil Shales & Tar Sands- In Situ Methods
True & Modified
040300 - Oil Shales & Tar Sands- Drilling
Fracturing & Mining