Reservoir characterization for Chevron's HASDrive field trial, Athabasca oil sands area, northeastern Alberta, Canada
- Chevron Oil Field Research Co., La Habra, CA (USA)
Chevron is currently field testing an in-situ thermal recovery process termed Heated Annulus SteamDrive (HASDrive) on the Lower Cretaceous Athabasca tar sand deposit at the Alberta Oil Sands Technology Research Authority (AOSTRA) Underground Test Facility (UTF) site. The HASDrive process applies heat through a subsurface horizontal pipe to the base of the bitumen-rich reservoir sands of the McMurray Formation. A vertical steam-injection well aids in mobilization of the heavy crude and sweeps hydrocarbons toward a horizontal subsurface producing well. To evaluate the HASDrive technology, a geologic model was developed to predict the distribution and geometry of reservoir sands and intervening shales. Core studies indicated deposition took place in an estuarine environment, with sands representing tidal channel deposits and shales relating to tidal flat sedimentation. A thorough program of conventional and special core analysis was done on samples from five wells. Special core analysis consisted of miscibly cleaning samples prior to determination of brine permeability. Vertical and horizontal permeability were determined for massive to cross-bedded sandstone as well as four types of shale-bearing sandstone. Of these four, thin shale beds and shale breccia were more effective in reducing permeability and may form barriers to fluid flow. Thin discontinuous shale laminae or shaly wisps merely impede flow. Interactive workstation programs used core and log data petrophysical parameters as input to build a simulator grid of 2,600 blocks in 10 layers to represent a field trial area of approximately 2,000 m{sup 2}. Potential barriers capable of preventing or reducing the flow rate were identified, incorporated into the model, and treated as dimensionless shales (i.e., shaly beds with negligible thickness). The simulator model was then used to the match history of field trial fluid production.
- OSTI ID:
- 6760839
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-900605-; CODEN: AABUD
- Journal Information:
- AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA), Vol. 74:5; Conference: Annual convention and exposition of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, San Francisco, CA (USA), 3-6 Jun 1990; ISSN 0149-1423
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
58 GEOSCIENCES
ATHABASCA DEPOSIT
RESERVOIR ROCK
ALBERTA
BRINES
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
DRILL CORES
GEOLOGIC MODELS
PERMEABILITY
SANDSTONES
SHALES
STEAM INJECTION
CANADA
FLUID INJECTION
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
MESOZOIC ERA
NORTH AMERICA
OIL SAND DEPOSITS
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
040200* - Oil Shales & Tar Sands- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
580000 - Geosciences