Evolution characteristics of SAGD steam chamber and its impacts on heavy oil production and heat consumption

Currently, Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) is the most successful commercialized method used to produce bitumen from oil sands and heavy oil reservoirs. Precise description of the steam chamber evolution is important for evaluating the economic effectiveness and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission of the SAGD process. In this study, the properties of MacKay River Oil Sands were used in laboratory experiments to compare the chamber evolution and production performance of SAGD under different permeability distributions. Then, a mathematical model was established to predict the steam chamber evolution and the closely related oil production and heat consumption in a heterogeneous formation. Next, the calculated production performance and steam chamber evolution were compared with measured experimental data to verify the accuracy of the model. Finally, the chamber evolution characteristics and their impacts on SAGD oil production and heat consumption are discussed in this paper for formations with different permeability distributions. The results indicate that horizontal permeability controls the evolution of steam chamber such that higher horizontal permeability may cause an obvious convex shape of the chamber edge, whereas vertical permeability has little effect on the chamber shape despite significant influence on the oil production in the early stage of SAGD. Moreover, a convex-shaped chamber interface indicates a higher production rate in the spreading stage and a lower rate in the depleting stage. In addition, this study shows that to minimize the heat consumption of the SAGD process, so that GHG emission can be curbed, a concave-like chamber shape is favorable in the early spreading stage, whereas a convex shape is better in the late spreading stage and depleting stage.