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OIL SANDS
FIGURE 2
CUMULATIVE AIR/OIL RATIO VERSUS TIME, MORICHAL FIELD
< 200\STI HATED
NET DAILY OIL MATE
1960
SOURCE: VH.LALBA ET AL.
il*jti sit
i>iiiiieo
1961
Only four wells clearly responded to combustion
the first year of the test.
Only
one well of the pattern exhibited a major
production response from the main air flow chan
nel. Most of the air escaped outside of the test
pattern as did the oil displaced by combustion.
Conclusions
From the literature review of four ISC field tests
done in Venezuela, it can be concluded that the
two most frequent problems encountered were:
- Operational
- Controlling
problems due to the high
temperatures and corrosion problems in
producing wells.
the direction and rate of the
front. Combustion front
burning
breakthrough was often observed early
in wells which were located in the direc
tion of preferential air flow. This problem
emphasizes the need for a good descrip
tion of reservoir characteristics which is
critical in designing a successful in situ
combustion project.
####
3-29
1962 1963 1964
IN SITU COMBUSTION EXPERIENCE IN
ROMANIA REACHES 30 YEARS
In Situ Combustion (ISC) field experience in
Romania goes back to 1963. This experience
was summarized by V. Machedon et al. of the
Romanian Research and Design Institute for Oil
and Gas at last year's Symposium on In Situ
Combustion Practices, held in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Starting with 1963, simultaneous pilot and semicommercial
steam flooding and in situ combus
tion tests were carried out at Suplacu de Barcau
(16
heavy oil field API). The performance of in
situ combustion was by far better and as a result,
the entire reservoir was designed to produce by
this method, by abandoning the "patterns"
con
cept and introducing the "continuous front"
con
cept. Under primary production, the ultimate
recovery factor would have been 9.2 percent,
while an ultimate recovery factor of at least
50 percent is expected by in situ combustion.
The authors note that after a fast increase-
between 1950 and 1970-of the number of ap
plied ISC projects, the numbers for this method
recorded an equally fast decrease and the prevail
ing trend became Steam Injection (SI).
THE SYNTHETIC FUELS REPORT, JANUARY 1995