Modeling Three-Phase Flow during Steam Chamber Rise-Impact of Water Drainage on Oil Production Rate

摘要

The existing models for steam chamber rise rate ignore the effect of water drainage that can result in three-phase flow near the finger/chamber edge. We hypothesize that a steam finger can be divided into three different regions with different pore scale displacement mechanisms. We develop the flux equations for the three regions by assuming 1) negligible oil flow inside the finger, 2) three-phase flow in the transition zone, and 3) single-phase oil flow beyond the transition zone. We further assume that oil flow is coupled to water flow in the transition zone where the dominanat pore-scale mechanisms are double displacement, coalescence, and film drainage. The model results suggest that fast drainage of water in the transition region enhances the oil displacement rate due to the flow coupling. However, increase of the transition zone thickness, due to slow water drainage, decreases the chamber rise rate because of the decrease in the rate of heat conduction to the cold bitumen.