Comparative Mechanistic Simulationsto Design an ASP Field Pilot inLa Salina, Venezuela

摘要

In La Salina field, located in the Maracaibo Lake,Venezuela, which produces a medium gravity crude oil(25 ° API) from a Miocene reservoir at 3,000 feet, a seriesof EOR processes were proposed to be evaluated underfield conditions. Results from laboratory tests indicatedthat Alkali-Surfactant-Polymer technology (ASP) might bea potential EOR process to improve the oil recoveryfactor. However, ASP processes involve the injection of asignificant volume of chemicals, therefore, costsassociated with this technology could exceed theeconomical limit permissible. For this reason, it isnecessary to use simulation tools to predict reservoirproduction response when this technology is applied. Results from early ASP simulations have been reportedelsewhere [1, 2].The present study shows the results of modeling theinjection of ASP in a pilot area of La Salina field, usingtwo commercial simulators. The pilot area has beenpartially depleted by waterflooding, therefore the reservoirstill contains mobile oil saturation. Based on laboratoryhistory matches of radial core floods, several fieldpredictions were carried out which show an incrementaloil recovery factor between 6% and 16.7% compared towaterflooding, depending on the selected wellarrangements and the volume of injected chemicals. Theresults of the two simulators were compared at both