Course Description:

This course covers the problems of heavy oils and current heavy oil production technologies. It introduces new production technologies that have been developed in the last several years. Technology screening guidelines will be outlined and informative assessments of the various approaches will be provided. It also enables one to timely select the most beneficial method and set realistic expectations on production behavior changes and recovery improvement 

Course Goal:

To enhance participants’ knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to increase efficiency formation for heavy oil  

Course Objectives:

By the end of this course, the participant will be able to:

1. Identify reasons and causes for less than theoretically possible recovery for heavy oil
2. Understand mechanisms responsible for recovery improvement in various EOR methods
3. Understand and apply thermal methods
4. Understand the economics of heavy oil production

Course Outline:

1. Introduction & Overview :
   1. Why producing fuel from heavy oil reservoirs has become increasingly necessary?
   2. Heavy oil and bitumen.
   3. Enhanced oil recovery methods.
   4. PVT Properties of heavy oil.
2. Basis of Oil Displacement.
   1. Relative Permeability.
   2. Fractional Flow & Frontal displacement.
   3. Dimensional analysis.
3. Convective heat transfer.
   1. Heat fronts & Steam heating.
   2. Lateral heat transfer.
4. Steam flooding.
   1. Steam properties & Steam flooding mechanism.
   2. O/W ratio.
   3. Cyclic steam stimulation.
   4. Bitumen recovery.
   5. Steam-assisted gravity drainage.
5. Displacement of heavy-oil.
   1. Factors affecting displacement.
   2. Multi-phase flow.
   3. Segregated flow.
   4. Buckley – Leverett equation.
   5. Application to heavy-oil water and steam flooding.
   6. Mechanism of displacement in steam processes.
6. EOR methods for Heavy Oil.
   1. Steam Stimulation & Steam flooding.
   2. In-Situ combustion.
7. Heavy Oil Production.
   1. Drain, drainage rate and wormhole.
   2. Horizontal wells. (Effect of reservoir parameter, heat requirements).
   3. Well bore heating.
   4. Artificial lift (jet Pumping, Progressive cavity pumps).

Who Can Benefit?

1. Production petroleum engineers.
2. Production supervisors.
3. Chemicals engineers.