Numerical modeling on in-situ combustion process in the Chichimene field: Ignition stage

In this paper were evaluate the ignition behavior of the in-situ combustion (ISC) process in the Chichimene field using a reservoir commercial software. To development this study, the reactions of partial oxidation were represented by a single reaction in which oil reacts with oxygen and produces oxygenated oil. To achieve this, experimental evaluations were carried out in order to determine the stoichiometric coefficients and the kinetic parameters of the proposed reaction. In this approach was using a numerical model based on mass and energy balances to the closeness of the injection wellbore in order to adjust the frequency factor of the reservoir numerical model. The results indicated that is possible simulate the ignition stage of ISC process in a commercial software by using just one reaction, and for the specific case of Chichimene field this numerical model show that it will present a short ignition delayed which indicate high probability to get a spontaneous ignition to the current reservoir conditions and the distance at which ignition occurs can be modified by the air injection rate.