Sand Erosion in Cold Heavy Oil Production with Sand

Sand Erosion in Cold Heavy Oil Production with Sand

Jacobs, L.B.

Zitha, P.L.J. (mentor)
Van Rhee, C. (mentor)
Talmon, A.M. (mentor)

Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Geoscience & Engineering

Petroleum Engineering and Offshore Engineering

2012-04-26

Cold Heavy Oil Production with Sand (CHOPS) is a production method to produce heavy oil (>100 cP). It is mainly applied onshore Canada in unconsolidated sand reservoirs. Different theories exist about how the erosion process takes place inside the reservoir. This research project focused on the influence of the grain stress on the sand erosion process. Laboratory experiments were performed to investigate the influence of grain stress on the sand erosion process. In order to carry out these experiments a high pressure radial flow cell has been developed. Inside this flow cell, oil was injected into a compressed sand pack and produced via a single perforation. During this process the sand pack was scanned using a X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanner. Experiments were carried out at different confining pressures between 30 and 100 bar, using both oil and water as pore fluids. CT scans have revealed that the erosion process does not change when different grain stresses are applied. However, different erosion patterns were observed for experiments with the two different pore fluids. In both oil-sand and water-sand experiments a cavity was observed at the periphery of the sample. Although it could not be visualised using the CT-scanner, calculations have shown that a “weak zone”, must have developed between the injector and the producer before a cavity became visible.

CHOPS
oil
production
CT
erosion
sand
experiment
weak zone
cavity

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:c6110e4a-86d0-4423-aedd-fe3e5d55d20f

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2012 Jacobs, L.B.