Impact of Operational Parameters and Reservoir Variables During the Startup Phase of a SAGD Process

摘要

This paper highlights how numerical simulation can be used as a tool to optimize the start-up phase of a SAGD process. During start-up,the main objective is to create a uniform communication path between the two wells by first circulating steam in both the injector and the producer well and then imposing a differential pressure between them.The dynamics of this process leads to important temperature and pressure transients that should be carefully considered when developing a start-up strategy.Usually,this start-up strategy aims at minimizing the time in which the well pair can be converted to full SAGD operation without causing any adverse effects on the long-term process performance.