A feasibility study on heavy oil exploration by in-situ electric heating

There are many problems on the current exploration technologies of heavy oil, thus finally it often fails to enhance the oil recovery ratio. Based on analyses on the current problems, in-situ electric heating under the exploration well is proposed to eliminate the problem from other improved exploration technologies, e.g. small influence zone and low recovery. The physical model of heating heavy oil is established in this study based on the obtained weight-loss ratio under different temperatures from thermogravimetric tests, which is further used to simulate the in-situ temperature distribution of heavy oil. Production of crude oil from reservoir as well as electric energy to heat the reservoir under different temperatures is calculated according to the formula of weight-loss. Given the different saturation degrees of oil, the internal rate of return and the net present value methods are adopted to evaluate the economic feasibility of oil exploration by in-situ electric heating. Results indicate that fluid is required during the in-situ heating otherwise no heating effect is anticipated. The in-situ oil heating is very efficient as most of heavy oil can be recovered within the first three days. After that the recovery reduces significantly. It is not technically feasible for our domestic heavy oil reservoir to carry out recovery by in-situ electric heating given the current saturation degree and price of oil as the consumption in power is huge.