Application of Cyclic Steam Stimulation by Horizontal Wells in Iranian Heavy Oil Reservoirs

In Iran, there are a number of heavy oil reservoirs whose importance is growing as the conventional resources deplete. This study concerns the numerical simulation of cyclic steam stimulation of one of the heavy oil reservoirs. Results are encouraging and should be tested by field pilots. Heavy oil is characterized by its high-viscosity. Thermal methods reduce viscosity and residual oil saturation to improve mobility and achieve an economical recovery. Cyclic Steam Stimulation (CSS) which has faster production, lower capital costs and lower pressure operations than steam-flooding is of great interest in thermal methods. Oil recovery with steam injection has been enhanced with horizontal wells by increasing Sweep efficiency, the contact area opened to flow, producible reserves, steam injectivity and also by decreasing the number of wells required so that higher oil production It's reached. K-Field is one of the Iranian fractured heavy oil fields with low degrees API of 7.24 and high viscosity of 2700 cp. Although steam injection in naturally fractured heavy oil reservoirs provides extremely challenging issues, it can be considered as a potentially effective and efficient improved recovery method. In this study, using STARS, a thermal dual-porosity Model was constructed based on the available measured data to study CSS. Comprehensive and comparative studies and a sensitivity analysis of various operational parameters were conducted in order to find the optimum conditions for a high RF. This work shows that oil recovery could be improved from 0.66% by cold production to more than 10% by CSS during a 10 year period.