Steam-assisted gravity drainage performance optimization

Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) is a promising recovery process to produce heavy-oil and bitumen resources. The method ensures stable steam displacement by use of gravity as the driving force. After several years of small-scale field tests, the method is now considered mature and large-scale projects are scheduled in the near future. The full-length paper presents a general methodology based on numerical investigations to optimize a steam chamber throughout the production life of the horizontal well pair. Optimized steam-chamber development is achieved by adjusting steam injection rate to reservoir potential.