J170173 DOI: 10.
2118/170173-PA Date: 14-April-15 Stage: Page: 1
Development and Application of
Electrical-Joule-Heating Simulator for
Heavy-Oil Reservoirs
Hamid R. Lashgari, Mojdeh Delshad, Kamy Sepehrnoori, and Eric de Rouffignac, University of Texas at Austin
Summary
In the electrical-Joule-heating process, the reservoirs are heated in
situ by dissipation of electrical energy to reduce the viscosity of
oil. In principle, electrical current passes through the reservoir flu-
ids mostly because of the electrical conductivity of saturated flu-
ids such as saline water. The flow of electrical current through the
reservoir raises the heat in the reservoir and thereby dramatically
reduces the oil viscosity.
In this process, electrical current can flow between electrical-
potential sources (electrodes) in wells, and then electrical energy
is dissipated to generate the heat. Therefore, the regions around the
electrodes in (or around) the wells are extremely heated. Because
the wells act as line sources for the electrical potential, greater
heating takes place near the wellbore, causing possible vaporiza-
tion of water in that region. Because steam has very-low electrical
conductivity, it can reduce the efficiency of this process signifi-
cantly. In this process electrical conductivity plays a very impor-
tant role. To increase efficiency of this type of heating process, the
presence of optimum saline-water saturation is an essential factor.
To model the electrical Joule heating in the presence of multi-
phase-fluid flow, we use three Maxwell classical electromagnet-
ism equations. These equations are simplified and assumed for
low frequency to obtain the conservation of the electrical-current
equation and Ohms law. The conservation of electrical current
and Ohms law are implemented by use of a finite-difference
method in a four-phase chemical-flooding reservoir simulator
(UTCHEM 2011.7). The Joule-heating rate caused by dissipation
of electrical energy is calculated and added to the energy equation
as a source term.
The formulation and implementation of electrical heating are
validated against a reference analytical solution and verified with a
reservoir simulator. A typical-reservoir model is built, and con-
stant electrical potential with alternating current is applied to the
model to study the efficiency of the electrical-heating process
properly. The efficiency of this process is evaluated in the presence
of water-saturated fractures and evaporation effect. Results illus-
trate that water saturation in the presence of fractures and electrical
conductivity of saturated rock have an important effect on the
Joule-heating process. The importance of the fractures saturated
by saline water and operation of such processes below the boiling
point are key findings in this paper to obtain high recovery in com-
parison with other conventional-thermal-recovery methods.
Introduction
Steam injection is not always the best process for heavy-oil pro-
duction. This can be true for a shallow reservoir because of heat
lost across the reservoir or a deep reservoir because of high heat
lost along the wellbore (Bogdanov et al. 2011). To overcome
these problems, electrical-low-frequency Joule heating of a reser-
voir was presented by Amba et al. (1964). This method has been
proposed to improve recovery of highly viscous oil and heavy oil
(<20 8API). In this process, viscous oil is heated by electrical
Copyright V
C 2015 Society of Petroleum Engineers
This paper (SPE 170173) was accepted for presentation at the SPE Heavy Oil Conference
Canada, Calgary, 1012 June 2014, and revised for publication. Original manuscript
received for review 20 March 2014. Revised manuscript received for review 13 February
2015. Paper peer approved 4 March 2015.
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energy to reduce the viscosity of oil. Therefore, the electrical
Joule heating can mainly be valuable in cases where steam injec-
tion cannot be functional in deep reservoirs, low injectivity and
productivity, high-heat-loss areas, and existence of thief zones
(McGee and Vermeulen 2007).
In this process, the electrical current passes through the reser-
voir fluids, where the reservoir rock and fluids are used as electri-
cal-resistance elements (Hiebert et al. 1989). In principle, the
electrical current passes through the reservoir fluids because of
fluid electrical conductivity, such as saline water (Fig. 1). The
flow of electrical current through the reservoir dissipates to heat
form, and this leads to heating the reservoir and thereby dramati-
cally reducing the oil viscosity (Rangel-German et al. 2004;
Wittle et al. 2008). This type of flow can be caused by electrical
potential that is applied through electrodes placed in the bottom
of production and injection wells in the presence of saline water.
Therefore, electrical current flows between electrical-potential
sources (electrodes in wells) through the reservoir, and then it is
dissipated and heat is generated. But conductivity and continuity
of initial water in porous media is a necessity for electrical-current
flow and its dissipation.
A number of studies have been performed in the last decades
to develop laboratory experiments, pilot tests, and modeling of
the electrical-Joule-heating process. El-Feky (1977) and Harvey
et al. (1979) studied the feasibility of the heating process for
heavy-oil reservoirs. A set of laboratory experiments was per-
formed to evaluate the efficiency of this process for recovery of
oil in a five-spot pattern. They investigated the effect of salinity
during waterflooding with and without the electrical heating.
Todd and Howell (1978) implemented the electrical-Joule-heat-
ing formulation for a radial coordinate to evaluate the electrical-
potential distribution, the temperature distribution, the heat flow,
and the single-phase flow produced by thermal expansion of res-
ervoir fluids. They studied the effects of resistivity, wellbore size,
well temperature, and well spacing. They demonstrated that it is
possible to maintain the same total energy dissipated into the res-
ervoir for three different levels of initial electrical conductivity
by adjusting the electrical potential. It was found that increasing
the effective-electrode radius and spacing may lead to more-rapid
heating. Hiebert et al. (1986) performed the electrical-heating for-
mulation in a fluid-flow simulator to investigate the preheating
process for a steamflooding purpose. They showed that electrical
preheating can establish a fluid-connectivity region between in-
jector and producer wells. They also showed that the electric-
preheating period consists of applying a constant power of 1,500
kW to the five-spot pattern for 1 year. The following period con-
sisted of no heating with closed wells for 2 weeks, and then a
steamdrive phase consisted of a sequence of steam and hot-water
injections over a few years. Killough and Gonzales (1986) devel-
oped a fully implicit, 3D multicomponent reservoir simulator ca-
pable of treating the impact of the variation of bulk-reservoir-
electrical conductivity on temperature, water saturation, and salt
content. They validated their simulator by use of the laboratory
experiments of El-Feky (1977) and with analytical models.
Pizarro and Trevisan (1990) performed an interesting analysis of
a pilot test in a real field. In this study, the field data were
matched by numerical simulations performed with a simulator
implemented by the authors.
1
 J170173 DOI: 10.2118/170173-PA Date: 14-April-15 Stage: Page: 2 Total Pages: 14

Sources
Sources
Slain water
Slain water

Rock
Rock
Oil
Oil

Fig. 1A schematic of Joule-heating process in a saturated reservoir (left) with dissipated electrical energy and generated Joule
heating in saline water, then (right) heat diffuses from water phase to surrounding oil.

McGee and Vermeulen (2007) presented a numerical-simula-
tion study on a reservoir model that is representative of the Atha-
basca oil sands. They took advantage of a distributed-voltage
control between the electrode array and the water injection at the
end of the electrodes. Water injection prevents boiling of water
phase and facilitates the heat distribution by flow-convection
mechanisms. The operation of this study was in three main stages:
a 30-day preheating period, a 180-day heating/production stage, a
150-day production period (without any electrical heating to take
advantage of the residual heat from previous steps). The oil-
production peak was observed at the beginning of the second
stage. The authors concluded that the recovery factor was compa-
rable with a successful steam-assisted-gravity-drainage project.
Bogdanov et al. (2011) studied the influence of salt concentra-
tion in recirculated water during electrical heating. They showed
that to avoid vaporization around the electrodes (wells), recircula-
tion of saline water can increase the efficiency of heating process
by approximately 35%. To improve the heat distribution in the
reservoir during the low-frequency electrical heating, water can
be recycled around the electrode (McGee 2008).
These studies in the literature have mostly only reported appli-
cation of the process rather than the comprehensive formulation
and modeling of different physics. They have not described the
effect of fracture and evaporation on the effectiveness of the heat-
ing process, even though these are important factors from an oper-
ation point of view. In general, simulation of such a process is a
challenging multiphysics problem that involves solving Max-
wells equations in addition to the physics of fluid flow under non-
isothermal conditions. For our purposes, we have restricted its
application to the low-frequency regime. This allows us to reduce
the electromagnetic problem to solving Ohms law and the equa-
tion of electric-current conservation. These equations are imple-
mented by use of a finite-difference four-phase-flow reservoir
simulator (UTCHEM). The Joule-heating rate caused by electrical
current is calculated and added as an energy source to the energy-
balance equation.
In this paper, we formulate and implement numerically the
electrical-resistance-heating formulation in a four-phase reservoir
simulator (UTCHEM) to model vaporization phenomena around
the wellbore, and then we study the influence of this phenomenon
on the effectiveness of the process. Meanwhile, we evaluate the
efficiency of this process in the presence of a fracture that was sat-
urated with saline-water phase.
Governing Energy and Steam Equations
The conservation of energy in porous media is derived from the
first law of thermodynamics. This equation can be simplified by
neglecting energy flux caused by the radiation and reactions and
also excluding kinetic and potential energy. Thereby, energy
fluxes in the reservoir occur by conduction and convection; thus,
the energy equation can be written as
np np
!
@ X X enthalpy with temperature function on the basis of the previously
1  /qr Ur / ~
q S U  r q H ~
u discussed assumptions. By use of enthalpy definition of rock and
@t
 
1 1
r ~  keff rT
~  qH 6qL qele  qinstu ;         1
where Ur and U are internal energy of rock and fluid phase per
unit mass, respectively; H is enthalpy of phase per unit mass; u
is Darcys velocity of fluid phase ; qr and q are rock and mass
densities of phase , respectively; and / is porosity and S is satu-
ration of fluid phase . In Eq. 1, np is the number of coexisting
phases and keff is an effective thermal conductivity. qH is the en-
thalpy rate of the source/sink term per bulk volume. A positive
sign is assigned to qH for an injection well, and a negative sign is
considered for a production well. qL is the heat loss to overburden
and underburden rocks. In the case of cold-fluid injection, if the
reservoir becomes colder than initial reservoir temperature, then a
positive sign is assigned to qL . But, in the case of hot-fluid injec-
tion that increases reservoir temperature compared with initial
temperature, a negative sign for qL is considered. qele is the elec-
trical Joule heating as the source term, which is always positive.
qinstu is the in-situ thermal-generator source that can be placed in
the bottom hole of a well. A positive sign for qinstu is assigned for
a heat source, and a negative sign is used for a cold source. The
following assumptions are made for simplification (Lake 1989;
Lashgari 2014):
Neglect pressure/volume work (HU) for all fluid phases.
Neglect the dependency of enthalpies on pressure.
Heat capacity is considered independent of temperature.
Assume an effective thermal conductivity of all saturated
fluids and rock as arithmetic-weighted average, expressed in
Eq. 3.
Heat loss to overburden and underburden, qL , is computed
by use of the Vinsome and Westerveld (1980) analytical
method.
We assume the mass transfer between water and steam phases
occurs at the boiling point (saturated condition). The following
equation must conserve energy during condensation and
vaporization:
@Hr Xnp
@H @qs Ss
1  /qr / q S H s  H w
@t 1
@t @t
!
np
X  
q u rH ~  qs~
~ H s  H w r us  r~  keff rT~
1
qH 6qL qele  qinstu ;                    2
where H s and H w are steam and water enthalpy per unit mass, and
qs ; ~
u s , and, Ss are density, Darcy velocity, and saturation of steam
phase, respectively. Effective thermal conductivity is defined as
np
X
keff 1  /kr / s k ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1
where kr is thermal conductivity of rock and k is thermal conduc-
tivity of phase . In addition, it is more convenient to substitute
fluid phases corresponding to a reference in temperature and en-
thalpy (enthalpy reference of a reservoir is considered the initial
temperature of reservoir in this work), then it can be written as

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Initialize Single-phase
o o o o o Steam-quality
p , V , T , S i , ch region (steam))
tie lines
100

Total Enthalpy (Btu/lbm)

90
Solve for pn+1 80 Two-phase region
solmat.f 70 (water and steam)
60
50
Updated for fluid
40 Htot
velocities solmat.f
30
20 Saturated
Phase-behavior calculation water/oil/gas/steam 10 condition
gas_prop.f or steam_prop.f 0
IInitial
al Single-pha
Single-phase
ccondition
ndition region (wat
(water)
n+1
Solve explicit concentrations ch
coneq.f
Temperature (F)

Calculate electrical Yes Check the FLAG of electrical

n n Fig. 3A schematic of steam-mass-quality calculation.
conductivity Tn, Sw , SME heating
elecon.f engbal.f
No To calculate phase behavior of steam and water, total enthalpy
at equilibrium is obtained from energy-balance equation and then,
Solve implicitly for Solve implicitly for as shown in Fig. 3, steam quality is defined and written as
n+1 n+1
electrical potential V temperature T
solele.f engbal.f Htot  H w
engbal.f a ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Hs  Hw
Phase behavior calculation ME/oil/water with specific water and steam enthalpies per unit mass, H w and
for phase concentrations and saturations
n+1 n+1
Sl , clh csecal.f, phcomp.f, and phasc.f
H s , as well as phase densities qw and qs , which are functions of
pressure and temperature and calculated from steam table in the
steam/water-phase-behavior calculation. cw and cs are the volu-
Update density, relative permeability, viscosity metric concentrations of water and steam components, respec-
i
n+1
, pl
n+1 n+1
,prl
tively, and Htot is total enthalpy of water and steam, which is
calculated as
viscos.f, trapg.f, and densty.f
qs cs fps T  Tini qw cw fpw T  Tini
Htot ; . . . . . . . 7
q s cs q w cw
Fig. 2Solution-procedure flow chart for electrical Joule heat-
ing in the UTCHEM simulator. where fpw and fps are heat capacity of water and steam phases,
respectively, and qw and qs are mass density of water and steam,
respectively. On the basis of a simple definition of mass transfer
DH fp T  Tini ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 between water and steam, mass quality of steam also can be
defined as
where fp could be heat capacity of rock or fluid phases. Finally,
the energy equation, which is used in UTCHEM to solve for tem- qs cs
a : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
perature, becomes qs cs qw cw
" np
#
X @T Eqs. 6 and 8 both express steam quality but are different in the
1  /qr fpr / q S fp calculations: One is obtained from the energy-balance equation,
1
@t
"n # and the other is computed from the mass-balance equation. There-
X p   fore, first mass quality is calculated from the energy equation.
~ r
u  rT
q fp~ ~  keff rT
~ Because mass must be conserved in Eq. 6, the volume concentra-
1 tion of gas and water are solved by use of the mass-balance equa-
 
@qs Ss ~ tion (Lashgari et al. 2015).
H s  H w r  qs~
u s qH 6qL qele  qinstu :
@t
                   5 Mathematical Model
The three Maxwell principal classical-electromagnetism equa-
The energy-balance equation consists of accumulation, con- tions, with appropriate initial and boundary conditions and mate-
vection, and conduction terms, respectively. The  difference
 rial properties, can be solved with the following assumptions and
between steam and water enthalpy per unit mass H s  H w is approximations (Hiebert et al. 1986).
called the latent heat of water vaporization. This term is a multi-
plier for the mass equation of gas phase in Eq. 5. This equation
can conserve energy in the presence of vaporization and conden- Anisotropy of Electrical Conductivity. The electrical conduc-
sation of water during mass transfer between water and steam. To tivity may be anisotropic. However, in this formulation, we
solve Eq. 5 numerically, we consider only the latent-heat term ex- assumed an isotropic electrical conductivity. In some cases, the
plicitly and the other terms are solved implicitly (Delshad et al. reservoir formation consists of different layers with large differ-
1996; Lashgari et al. 2014a, 2014b). Because the UTCHEM simu- ence in electrical conductivity. Considering several isotropic con-
lator is an implicit-pressure/explicit-concentration simulator, first ductivities for different rock types for each layer is our approach
pressure is solved at a new time level and then mass-balance to deal with the anisotropic case.
equations are solved. Water and steam properties are updated on
the basis of pressure at the new time level (n 1), concentrations, The Quasistatic Approximation. The electrical conductivity,
and temperature at the old time level (n) (Fig. 2). electrical permittivity, and magnetic permeability are not functions

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Electrical
a current out
b electrical current does not need to be solved. This applies to non-
Electrical
current in
l
Fig. 4A schematic of electrical current through a control
volume.
of the electric- or magnetic-field strengths. This assumption can be
achieved by approximating the quasistatic regime for the three
principal electromagnetic equations.
Low-Frequency Assumption. Low-frequency-sinusoidal excita-
tions are applied as electrical potential or electrical current into
the formation as source term. Therefore, the conduction-electrical
current is a dominant term compared with the displacement-
electrical current inside the formation. Furthermore, the frequency
is low enough to neglect the time-varying magnetic fields that can
generate the displacement electrical current.
Furthermore, the potential frequency should be low enough to
neglect the displacement current; otherwise, local magnetic fields
generate the displacement currents against the conduction cur-
rents. Hence, electrical-conduction current and the heating distri-
bution are altered. For hydrocarbon reservoirs, this assumption is
well-justified below a potential frequency of 1 MHz, and it is
strongly valid in the range of 60 Hz. In this range of frequency,
neglecting displacement currents is an appropriate assumption in
the quasistatic regime. Accordingly, the time dependence of elec-
trical-current density in Eq. 9 can be neglected. However, the
Maxwell equation that conserves electrical current is expressed as
@q
r  q6 ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
@t
where q is the electrical charge or electrical-current density; for
quasistatic and low-frequency assumptions, the time dependence
of electrical-current density is negligible. We use q rrw,
Ohms law, and then substitute this into Eq. 9 because w is the
electrical potential (i.e., voltage) and it can be a phasor with a real
part and an imaginary part. The electric potential w is equal to
wR jwI , where wR and wI vary in the real domain and imaginary
domain ( j2 1). The electrical-source term is expressed as J,
and it can be a phasor as well. Hence, it can be decomposed as
JR jJI . The electrical conductivity r is a diagonal tensor, with
no imaginary components. But, on the basis of the first assump-
tion, we consider an isotropic parameter in this work. Therefore,
electrical conductivity changes as a scalar value.
Because the differential operator is real, Eq. 12 is decomposed
in real and imaginary domains and it can be rewritten as
r  rrw6 JR 0; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
r  rrw6 JI 0: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
In the case of a 3D Cartesian grid, the equations for real and
imaginary components are
   R
@ @w @ @w @ @w
rx R ry R rz R 6 JR 0;
@x @x @y @y @z @z
                   12
  
@ @w @ @w @ @w
rx I ry I rz I 6 JI 0:
@x @x @y @y @z @z
                   13
Electrical conductivity r depends on temperature, salinity, and
the amount of water, but in this model we do not consider the
effect of salinity in our formulation. Thus, r and w may vary
slowly with time. This dependence couples the current equations
(Eqs. 12 and 13) and therefore the electrical potential to the fluid
and reservoir properties. If all source terms are zero, the result for
electrical potential is zero everywhere, in which conservation of
alternating as well as single-phase-alternating cases (Hiebert et al.
1989). Electrical energy caused by formation resistivity is dissi-
pated in water phase as thermal energy. The heating rate is calcu-
lated from Joules law as
   
@wR 2 @wR 2 @wR 2 @wI 2
qele rx ry rz rx
@x @y @z @x
 
@wI 2 @wI 2
ry rz :              14
@y @z
This heating rate couples the fluid and reservoir conditions to
the electrical potential, as shown in the energy equation. Essen-
tially, this rate should be added at each point of the reservoir to
the energy equation as source of energy to heat the reservoir (Eq.
5). Electrical conductivity, as mentioned previously, plays an im-
portant role during generation of Joule heat. To calculate saturated
electrical conductivity of reservoir, electrical conductivity of the
water phase is obtained from Archies law and rock, oil, and
steam are considered nonconductive:
/m Snw ;
rw T; /; Sw rw T ; Archie s law: n 2;
a
m 1:37; a 0:88;             15
ro T; /; So  0; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
rsteam  0 and rrock  0: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Although n, m, and a are assumed constant in this work, impor-
tant factors such as wettability, pore-size distribution, and geologi-
cal properties affect these parameters and they lead to a change in
electrical conductivity. Therefore, change in electrical conductiv-
ity can cause a change in the efficiency of the electrical-heating
process. Wettability is an important factor that affects the satura-
tion exponent in Eq. 15. In water-wet rocks, the exponent is typi-
cally approximately 2.0. However, in oil-wet rocks, the exponent
can increase to rather-high values as the water saturation decreases
(Peters 2012). Porosity exponent and denominator a are influenced
by geological properties such as cementation and compactions.
However, the saturated electrical conductivity is calculated as
rsat T; /; Sw rw T; /; Sw : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
As discussed previously, we consider electrical conductivity to
be isotropic: rx ry rz . Instead of using electrical conductiv-
ity, we use electrical resistivity, which can be computed from Eq.
22. Electrical resistivity (R) is function of a geometry shape that
the electrical current is passing through the length dl of, with area
A, as shown in Fig. 4.
Electrical resistivity may be different in directions of x, y, and
z because the shape, length, width, and height of the gridblock;
thus, it can be obtained from
dl
: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
rA
Considering a constant surface area with isotropic electrical
conductivity, Eq. 19 is rewritten as
l
R ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
rA
where l is the length of control volume and A is a constant surface
area open to electrical-current flow.
Numerical Model
In this section, mathematical-model equations are substituted
and discretized to solve numerically for electrical potential or

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Gridblock (i1,j,k) Gridblock(i,j,k) Gridblock(i+1,j,k) (i1jk), AN is the coefficient of neighbor gridblock (ij1k), AT is
the coefficient of neighbor gridblock (ijk1), AE is the coefficient
of neighbor gridblock (i 1jk), AS is the coefficient of neighbor
gridblock (ij 1k), and AB is the coefficient of neighbor gridblock
(ijk 1). This matrix can be written for a gridblock (ijk) as

Ry,i+1jk
Ry,i1jk
Rx,i1jk Rx,ijk Rx,i+1jk

Ry,ijk
n1 n1 n1 n1
ATijk Vijk1 ANijk Vij1k AWijk Vi1jk ABijk Vijk1
n1 n1 n1 n
ASijk Vij1k AEijk Vi1jk ACijk Vijk BVijk :
                   25
Fig. 5A schematic of a gridblock (ijk) with two neighboring
gridblocks in the x-direction considering electrical-resistance All coefficients are calculated at the old time level. Therefore,
elements in the x- and y-direction. the system of algebraic equations is solved for the electrical poten-
tial or voltage at the new time level (n1). This system of linear
equations is expressed by use of matrix and vector notation as
voltage. Fig. 5 shows a schematic of the center of a gridblock
n
with resistivity in the x- and y-direction. ~n1 ~
A V
n1
b ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Ohms law is substituted into the conservation of electrical
current, and conservation of current in Eqs. 12 and 13 are discre- where A is a seven-diagonal real-coefficient matrix with dimen-
tized for a gridblock (ijk) as sion Nx  Ny  Nz ; Nx  Ny  Nz and V ~ is unknown vectors but
Vijk1  Vijk Vij1k  Vijk Vi1jk  Vijk is complex. ~b is the right-hand-side known vector that includes
2 2 2 current time source terms, and it is complex. Both vectors have
Rzijk1 Rzijk Ryij1k Ry;ijk Rx;i1; j;k Rx;ijk
dimensions of Nx  Ny  Nz . To solve the complex system of lin-
Vijk  Vi1jk Vi;j;k  Vij1k ear equations, we transfer these linear equations to a real domain
2 2
Rx;ijk Rxi1jk Ryijk Ry;ij1k and then solve for imaginary and real parts:
Vijk  Vijk1 2  n1  3 2  n1  3
2 BVijk ;                  21  n  Re V ~ Re ~b
Rz;ijk Rz; jk1 i A 0n 4   5 4  n1  5; . . . . . . 27
n1
0 A Im V Im b~
where Vijk is the electrical potential or voltage of a gridblock (ijk)
and the right-hand side, BVijk , consists of a source term for real or ~ and
imaginary parts that is expressed as where Re is an operator that selects the real part of vectors V
~
b and Im is an operator that choses the imaginary part of vectors
2 ~ and ~
well
V b. The solution methods by use of the different solver with
6Iijk For constant electrical current different algorithms are not discussed in this paper.
6
When voltage is solved, we use Joules law to calculate for the
BVijk 66
1

1

1 well
4 Rx;ijk Ry;ijk Rz;ijk Vijk For constant heat rate. Thus, Joules law is discretized for a gridblock (ijk) as
0 1
electrical potential;          22 2
Ii!i1jk 2
Rx;i!i1jk Ii!i1jk Rx;i!i1jk
B 2 C
well
where Iijk is the electrical current of electrodes applied under qele;ijk B 2 C
@ Iij!j1k Rz;ij!j1k Iij!j1k Ry;ij!j1k A;
constant current to a reservoir. The details are discussed later in 2 2
Iijk!k1 Ry;ijk!k1 Iijk!k1 Rz;ijk!k1
this study. To solve Eq. 22, it is rearranged as
1 1                    28
Vijk1 Vij1k
Rz;ijk1 Rz;ijk Ry;ij1k Ry;ijk where, for instance, Ii!i1jk is the electrical current from grid-
1 1 1 block i to i 1 and this current can be impaired by resistivity of
Vi1jk   corresponding gridblocks in the x-direction. Therefore, Rx;i!i1jk
Rx;i1jk Rx;ijk Rz;ijk1 Rz;ijk Ry;ij1k Ry;ijk is defined as
1 1 1
   Rx;ijk Rx;i1jk
Rx;i1jk Rx;ijk Rxijk Rx;i1jk Ryijk Ry;ij1k Rx;i!i1jk : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
! 2
1 1
 Vijk Vi1jk A similar definition is considered for the electrical current in
Rz;ijk Rz;ijk1 Rx;ijk Rx;i1jk the boundary of gridblocks, and calculation is performed for elec-
1 1 trical resistivity that dissipated the electrical energy to generate
Vij1k Vijk1 BVijk : heat between neighboring gridblocks. We use Eq. 22 and discre-
Ry;ijk Ry;ij1k Rz;ijk Rz;ijk1
tize resistivity in the x-, y-, and z-direction (Rx, Ry, and Rz) for
                   23 gridblock (ijk) as
Eq. 23 equation is then converted to a system of linear equa- Dxijk
tions as Rx;ijk ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
rsat;ijk Dyijk Dzijk
AC 111 AE 211 AS121 0 AB211 0 0 V111 BV111
AW111 0 V211 BV211
Dyijk
1

0
Ry;ijk ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
rsat;ijk Dxijk Dzijk
AN 111 ABNxNyNz VNx 11 BVNx 11
0 Dzijk
0 Rz;ijk : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
AT111 AS NxNyNz VNxNy 1 Nz BVNxNy 1 Nz
rsat;ijk Dyijk Dxijk
0
0 AE NxNyNz VNx 1 NyNz BVNx 1 NyNz

0 0 ATNxNyNz 1 AN NxNy 1 Nz AW Nx 1 NyNz AC NxNyNz VNxNyNz BVNxNyNz

                   24 Boundary Conditions
This section describes the numerical form of inner- and outer-
where AC is the main diagonal coefficient for gridblock (ijk), and boundary conditions in a numerical-reservoir model. For the
at the same row, AW is the coefficient of neighbor gridblock outer-boundary condition, we consider a closed outer boundary

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(a) (b)
250 10
Analytical solution Analytical solution
150 8
Numerical solution
(UTCHEM) Numerical solution

Heat Rate (W)

(UTCHEM)
50 6
Voltage (V)

50 4

150 2

250 0
0 50 100 150 200 0 50 100 150 200
Distance (ft) Distance (ft)

Fig. 6Comparison of voltage and electrical-heat-rate profile results in constant electrical resistivity.

similar to fluid-flow outer boundary. Because boundaries are
closed, electrical current in the outer boundary is zero. But in the
case of the inner boundary (electrical sources or electrodes), two
types of constraints are considered in this formulation. The first
constraint is that constant current is applied to electrodes. The sec-
ond constraint is constant electrical potential or constant voltage.
In the first constraint, the constant current is considered directly in
well
the right-hand side, expressed in Eq. 22 as BVijk Iijk . perature (Fig. 2).
In the second constraint, which is constant voltage, we need to
evaluate the source or the electrode effect as
 Validation of Test Cases. In this section, two test cases are con-
1 1 1
well
Iijk V n1
Rx;ijk Ry;ijk Rz;ijk ijk
 merical approach, and results against a known analytical solution
1 1 1 and the Computer Modelling Group (CMG-STARS 2012.10) res-
 V well :           33
Rx;ijk Ry;ijk Rz;ijk ijk
Then, the resistivity term of unknown voltage in Eq. 33 is
added to the main diagonal coefficient (AC) of a well gridblock
(ijk). The rest of the terms in Eq. 33 are added to the right-hand
side of the well gridblock (ijk) as expressed in Eq. 24.
Solution Procedure
In this study, we coupled the solution of the electrical potential
(i.e., voltage) with governing fluid-flow and energy equations.
The direct-solution method is used in this simulator because this
method required less computer time and memory allocation in
comparison with an iterative method, such as Newton-Raphson.
The simulator first initializes electrical potential similar to other
fluid-flow properties. Then, pressure and concentrations are cal-
culated. The electrical conductivity is updated for new time level
before temperature-solution and saturation calculations. Subse-
10000
1000
Oil Viscosity (cp)
quently, electrical potential is solved and then the electrical-cur-
rent flow and dissipated electrical energy are calculated from the
electrical-potential distribution. Electrical heating is the source
term for the energy equation in temperature calculation. All fi-
nite-difference equations are solved for pressure implicitly, for
concentration explicitly, and for electrical potential implicitly,
and a sequential implicit scheme is used for calculation of tem-
Numerical-Simulation Results
sidered to validate and verify the mathematical formulation, nu-
ervoir simulator.
Comparison of Analytical Solution and Simulation Results. A
1D case is set up for UTCHEM to model voltage and heat rate in
a reservoir with two wells or electrodes. The reservoir dimension
is 200  1020 ft in the x-, y-, and z-direction, respectively.
Twenty gridblocks are considered in the UTCHEM simulator to
compare results with the analytical-solution results.
Constant voltage (220 V) with electrical phases 0 and 180  is
applied into the reservoir through electrodes at the bottom of the
wells. A constant electrical resistivity is considered for the entire
reservoir (100 X). Fig. 6a compares voltage profiles between the
analytical and the UTCHEM results. Voltage has a constant slope
because of constant electrical resistivity. Hence, electrical current
calculated from Ohms law is constant as well. Therefore, dissi-
pated electrical energy is uniform because resistivity is constant
(4 W/ft), as shown in Fig. 6b, which also shows the comparison of
electrical-heat rate between analytical and simulation results.
Comparison of Numerical-Simulation Results. A 2D case is
set up to compare the UTCHEM and the CMG-STARS results. A
vertical section of a heavy-oil reservoir is considered that is sealed
by caprocks at the top and bottom of the pay zone with three hori-
zontal wells (two wells are at the top and one well is at the bot-
tom). A three-electrical-phase configuration for the electrical
heating is used in this case. Three electrodes are placed in the bot-

tom of the wells at the vertices of an equilateral triangle with elec-

trical potentials at 220 V but differing in phase by 120  (0, 120,
100 and 240  ). Electrical potential of 220 V is applied with electrical
phases (0, 120, and 240  ) to heat the reservoir. Initial oil viscosity
of the reservoir is 4,700 cp (at 60  F); hence, oil viscosity against
10 temperature is plotted in Fig. 7. Electrical-conductivity model in
UTCHEM is calculated from Eq. 22, but it is slightly different
compared with electrical-conductivity model in CMG-STARS.
1 The reservoir-model parameters and fluid properties are summar-
0 100 200 300 400 500 ized in Table 1, and thermal and electrical properties of the reser-
Temperature (F) voir are given in Table 2. Two phases (oil and water) are
considered in the case, and then it was run in UTCHEM and
Fig. 7The effect of temperature on oil viscosity. CMG-STARS.

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Table 1Reservoir model and fluid flow properties used in all cases.

The reservoir is electrically heated for 50 days, and voltage
magnitude, electrical-phase distribution, and imaginary and real
components of voltage are plotted in Fig. 8. Results show a good
agreement between two simulators. Real and imaginary parts of
voltage are plotted for both simulators. Electrical phases also sat-
isfy inner-boundary conditions in the well locations, and both
simulators are in good agreement. Fig. 8f shows the electrical
conductivity of the entire field at Day 50. The top and bottom
layers (caprocks), because of low porosity, have low electrical
conductivity. However, the reservoir layer because of high poros-
ity and water saturation becomes highly conductive. Because an
increase in temperature leads to an increase in the electrical con-
ductivity, reservoir conductivity is being increased within 50
days, as shown in Fig. 8f. Therefore, the hottest gridblocks are at
the well locations, as shown in Fig. 8e. Temperature around the
wellbore increases up to 500  F in both simulators, and this causes
a significant reduction in oil viscosity from 4,700 to 1 cp.
Figs. 9a and 9b compare electrical phase and magnitude of
voltage profiles that are intersecting and passing through the top
wells after 50 days. As can be observed in the well, the gridblock
magnitude of voltage reaches to 164 V with electrical phases (120
and 240  ). Imaginary and real voltages corresponding to the same
crossed profile after 50 days are plotted in Figs. 9c and 9d,
respectively.
The comparison of results between the numerical simulations
and the analytical solution shows a good agreement in the model-
ing of the electrical-heating process. The formulation has been
implemented and coupled the electrical-heating model into a four-
phase chemical-flooding simulator to evaluate the performance of
a thermal-surfactant- or thermal-alkaline-injection processes as
well (Lashgari et al. 2014a, 2014b, 2015). In addition, evaporation
phenomena in electrical Joule heating around the electrodes can
be modeled in this simulator to evaluate the efficiency of the pro-
cess. These capabilities that have been developed in UTCHEM
enable us to investigate the influence of water-saturated fractures.
Therefore, we consider the same vertical cross section of the seal-
type reservoir that was used to investigate the effect of evapora-
tion and fractures in electrical-heating process. As discussed

Table 2Thermal and electrical properties for all cases.

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Magnitude of Real Imaginary Temperature Electrical

Electrical Phase () Voltage (V) Voltage (V) Voltage (V) (F) Conductivity (sim/m)

CMG-STARS
UTCHEM 1 90 180 270 360 1.0 41.9 82.8 123.7 164.6 70 18 35 88 140 140 70 0 70 140 89 196 304 412 519 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4

a b c d e f

Fig. 8Comparison of electrical phase, magnitude of voltage, real voltage, imaginary voltage, temperature, and electrical conduc-
tivity between CMG-STARS and UTCHEM after 50 days.

previously, the reservoir-model parameters and fluid properties the surrounding oil and the rock formation, causing temperature
are the same as the validation-case properties that are listed in to increase and reach the boiling point (saturated condition). The
Tables 1 and 2. In this case, we heat the reservoir electrically for formation of water evaporation occurs around the electrodes
50 days and then the two top horizontal wells are placed on pro- because of high-temperature-spot generation. This is one of the
duction for 300 days and the bottom well is implemented to inject crucial concerns in the electrical-heating process. Steam forms
water in evaporation and fracture cases to maintain the reservoir and because steam is roughly nonconductible, it disconnects the
pressure. conductive paths near the electrodes when temperature declines
The Effect of Evaporation of Water. To model evaporation sharply until steam condenses and again electrical conductivity
and condensation of water when temperature around a well increases in the presence of condensed water. Subsequently, the
reaches the boiling point, a similar case as used previously is con- heat rate is generated again and temperature increases until it
sidered here but with three phases (oil, water, and steam). The reaches the boiling point, as shown in Fig. 10, causing a signifi-
electrical conductivity of saline water is relatively high compared cant reduction in the efficiency. Temperature, steam saturation,
with rock and hydrocarbon phases, and this leads to an increase in total electrical conductivity, electrical current in x-direction, and
the electrical-current density in water phase. Therefore, most gen- magnitude of the heat rate in the gridblock of one of the produc-
eration of heat takes place in the water phase. Then, water heats tion wells are shown in Fig. 10. These fluctuations in temperature,

360 CMG-STARS
200
CMG-STARS
300 UTCHEM
Voltage Magnitude

UTCHEM 160
Electrical Phase ()

240
120
180
80
120
40
60

0 0
0 20 40 0 20 40
Distance (ft) Distance (ft)

200 0
150 CMG-IMEX
UTCHEM 20
Imaginary Voltage

100
50
Real Voltage

40
0
50 60

100 CMG-STARS
80
150 UTCHEM
200 100
0 20 40 0 20 40

Distance (ft) Distance (ft)

Fig. 9Comparison of electrical phase, magnitude of voltage, real voltage, and imaginary-voltage profiles passing through two
top wells after 50 days.

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(a) 580 Base case (two-phase) (b) 1000

Base case (two-phase)

Electrical-Heat Rate (W)

With-vaporization case (three-phase) With-vaporization case (three-phase)
480 750

Temperature (F)
380
500
280

250
180

80 0
0 50 100 0 50 100
Time (days) Time (days)
(c) 0 (d)
0.3

Electrical Conductivity (sim/m)

Base case (two-phase)
Lateral Current (amp)

2
0.25 With-vaporization case (three-phase)

4 0.2
6 0.15
8 0.1
Base case (two-phase)
10
0.05
With-vaporization case (three-phase)
12
0
0 50 100
0 50 100
Time (days) Time (days)
(e) 250 (f) 1
Base case (two-phase)
Magnitude of Voltage (V)

With-vaporization case (three-phase) Base case (two-phase)

200 0.8
Steam Saturation
With-vaporization case (three-phase)

150 0.6

100 0.4

50 0.2

0 0
0 50 100 0 50 100
Time (days) Time (days)

Fig. 10Temperature (a), magnitude of heat (b), electrical current in x-direction (c), saturated electrical conductivity (d), magnitude
of voltage (e), and generated-steam saturation (f) in one of the production-well gridblocks for the base case and the case with va-
porization phenomenon.

heat rate, electrical conductivity, electrical current, and voltage
are caused by the steam formation and by numerical fluctuation as
well. In such cases, temperature cannot go higher than the boiling
(saturated) temperature in corresponding pressure, and this dra-
matically alters the heat rate and reduces the total dissipated-
electrical-energy injection into the reservoir.
So far, we have argued the functioning and coupling of the
mathematical formulation implemented in such an implicit-
pressure/explicit-concentration (IMPEC) reservoir simulator,
even though this fluctuation could not be physical. Later, we clar-
ify numerical treatment in controlling the variations in evapora-
tion because of water phase change.
Of course, there is doubt about whether these fluctuations are
actually observed in the field or they are attributed to the numeri-
cal oscillation because of phase change in an IMPEC formulation.
To investigate this problem numerically, several test cases were
performed by varying the gridblock size and timestep to under-
stand the discretization and numerical error in the computations.
Simulation parameters of these test cases are summarized in
Table 3. We consider three different gridblock sizes with twice
larger (Dx 1.0 ft, Dy 10 ft, Dz 1.0 ft) and twice smaller
(Dx 0.25 ft, Dy 10 ft, Dz 0.25 ft) than the base-case-grid-
block size (Dx 0.5 ft, Dy 10 ft, Dz 0.5 ft). Then, all cases
were run with the same schedule and the same timestep (0.5 day).

Table 3Comparison of simulation parameters for test cases.

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(a) 580 t = 0.5 day (b) 580 x = 0.25 ft, z = 0.25 ft

t = 0.1 day x = 0.5 ft, z = 0.5 ft
480 t = 1 day 480 x = 1 ft, z = 1 ft

Temperature (F)

Temperature (F)
380 380

280 280

180 180

80 80
0 20 40 60 0 20 40 60
Time (days) Time (days)

Fig. 11Effect of different gridblock sizes and timesteps on the boiling point or saturated condition in the production-well grid-
block because of numerical oscillation caused by phase change.

Steam-quality Single-phase
Results are displayed in Fig. 11a. The temperatures of the
tie lines region (steam) production-well gridblock are plotted for all three cases. As can
100 be seen, temperature for the larger-gridblock case reaches the
90 boiling point later than the small-gridblock cases. This means that
80 Two-phase region larger gridblocks need more energy for increasing the temperature
Dissipation of Electrical

70 (water and steam) by 1  . The frequency of temperature variations for all cases is
Energy (Btu/lbm)

60
similar because test cases have been run with the same constant
50
40
timestep (Dt 0.5 days). The amplitudes of temperature varia-
30
tions in the larger-gridblock case are smaller because more energy
Condensation
20 Vaporization is needed for increasing temperature. In the small-gridblock cases,
10 temperature increases faster and reaches the boiling point earlier.
0 Therefore, the difference in the gridblock size affects the ampli-
Initial Single-phase tude of fluctuations and it is not related to the numerical instabil-
condition region (water) ity in such cases.
Other test cases also have been run with the different timesteps
(Dt 0.1 days, Dt 0.5 days, Dt 1.0 day). The results in Fig.
Temperature (F) 11b showed that a smaller timestep leads to lowering the ampli-
tude of temperature variations, but the frequency of variation is
Fig. 12A schematic of the dissipation of electrical energy with
increased.
temperature and phase change in the presence of single phase
and two phases around the boiling point at a constant pressure It is obvious that at undersaturated conditions, temperature
for the drawn path. around the electrode cannot exceed the boiling temperature at a

(a) 580 (b) 580

x = 1 ft z = 1 ft t = 0.5 Base case (two-phase)
With-vaporization case (three-phase)
x = 1 ft x = 1 ft t = 0.05 day
Temperature (F)

480 480
Temperature (F)

Vaporization
effect
380 380

280 280

180 180

80 80
0 20 40 60 0 50 100
Time (days) Time (days)

Fig. 13Numerical treatment to reduce the fluctuation near the well in the boiling point by use of very small timestep of 0.05 days,
and (a) then comparison of vaporization-case result (minimum-fluctuation case) with base case (b).

40 12
Base case (two-phase) Base case (two-phase)
With-vaporization case (three-phase) With-vaporization case (three-phase)
10
Oil Recovery (%)

30
8
Oil Rate (B/D)

20 6

4
10
2

0 0
0 120 240 360 0 120 240 360
Time (days) Time (days)

Fig. 14The oil recovery and oil rate for the base case and the case with vaporization.

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Accordingly, the variation in the boiling point around the well

(a) 0.0 0.3 0.5 0.8 1.0 (b)
Fig. 15Water-saturation distribution with overburden and
underburden seal layers in (a) fracture case and (b) base case.
constant pressure. The dissipated electrical energy is consumed
by the phase transition from water to steam and increase in the
mass quality of steam, as shown in Fig. 12. Therefore, energy bal-
ance is conserved and energy-balance error shows the same order
of magnitude in saturated (approximately 8.3  104) and under-
saturated (approximately 1.041  104) conditions. On the other
hand, Fig. 11 can clearly explain that the oscillation in the proper-
ties of the electrical-heating process in transition between two
phase and single phase (phase change) strongly depends on nu-
merical parameters, such as timestep and size of gridblock.
can be controlled by numerical treatments, as observed in Fig. 13.
In Fig. 13a, we consider very-small timestep of 0.05 days to con-
trol numerical fluctuation in comparison with a bigger timestep.
Fig. 13b reveals that vaporization of water near the wellbore leads
to a decrease in temperature and reduces the efficiency of the
process.
As simulation results demonstrate, the fluctuation can be con-
trolled by use of small timesteps. It is obvious that the evapora-
tion phenomenon does not allow temperature to go higher than
boiling temperature at corresponding pressure, as seen in Fig.
13b. Hence, evaporation leads to a decrease in the efficiency of
electrical heating.
There is a difference between electrical energy and the dissipa-
tion of electrical energy. Electrical energy is electrical power that
is applied to the reservoir through the electrodes in the wells. The
dissipation of electrical energy is a strong function of electrical
conductivity or resistivity, and it is generated in the reservoir
because of electrical current and electrical conductivity of the res-
ervoir (Joules law). Thereby, the amount of dissipation of electri-
cal energy must be in balance with the amount of heat in the
reservoir. The energy balance is always conserved in such cases
because energy-balance error is small enough. This effect can be
seen in the total oil recoveries in the base case and the case with
vaporization, as shown in Fig. 14. Vaporization of water
decreases the recovery factor from 35% to approximately 17%.
Therefore, the process should be designed to keep the temperature

Fracture case Base case

0 6 32 178 1000

After 5 days
(a)

(b) After 20 days

(c)
After 35 days

After 50 days
(d)

Fig. 16Magnitude of heat rate (W) distribution (a) after 5 days, (b) after 20 days, (c) after 35 days, and (d) after 50 days in the frac-
ture case and the base case.

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Fracture case Base case

80 123 190 292 450

(a) After 5 days

(b) After 20 days

(c) After 35 days

After 50 days
(d)

Fig. 17Temperature ( F) distribution (a) after 5 days, (b) after 20 days, (c) after 35 days, and (d) after 50 days in the fracture case
and base case.

less than the boiling point or saline water should be injected dur-
ing the heating process to avoid evaporation.
The Effect of Water-Saturated Fractures. We consider a set
of fractures to create conductive paths for electrical current that
flows through the continuous-water phase. Reservoir-model and
fluid properties are similar to those of the base case used previ-
ously, as seen in Table 1, and thermal and electrical properties are
given in Table 2. Fractures are modeled explicitly by use of fine
gridblocks and assigning water saturation of 1.0 and permeability
of kxf 3,000 md and kzf 1,000 md. These fractures are inter-
sected by gridblocks containing the wells. The fully saline-water-
saturated fractures are electrically conductible compared with ma-
trix conductivity. Fig. 15 displays the water-saturation distribu-
tion in the fracture case and the base case. Electrical energy is
dissipated to heat along these pathways in the fractures, and the
heat is transferred to oil through heat conduction.
Fig. 16 compares the generated-heat rate for the case with frac-
tures and the base case at different times (5, 20, 35, and 50 days).
These figures show that the water-saturated fractures play an im-
portant role with the high electrical conductivity. Therefore, high
electrical conductivity leads to more dissipation of electrical energy
at the same electrical power. Initially at Days 5 and 20, electrical
heat rate is high, whereas the generated-heat rate reduces by Days
35 and 50. The reason for this reduction in heat rate is because of an
increase in temperature and reduction in oil viscosity. Thereby, oil
can easily move into the fractures because of favorable density dif-
ference between water and oil phases, causing a drop in electrical
conductivity of fractures (Fig. 16 after 35 and 50 days).
Temperature in the fractures increases substantially compared
with the base case, as shown in Fig. 17. Accordingly, the presence
of water-saturated fractures has an extreme effect on the effi-
ciency of the electrical-heating process.

60 30
Fracture case Fracture case
50 Base case Base case
Oil Recovery (%)

40
Oil Rate (B/D)

20

30

20 10

10

0 0
0 120 240 360 0 120 240 360
Time (days) Time (days)

Fig. 18The effect of fractures saturated with water on oil production.

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Fig. 18 shows the comparison of oil recovery between the
fracture case and the base case. The recovery factor increases
from 35% for the base case to approximately 55% in the presence
of fractures. High oil recovery in the case with fractures is
because of high temperature in the reservoir, which is caused by
high conductivity and subsequently more dissipated electrical
energy.
Summary and Conclusions
We formulated and implemented the energy equation and electri-
cal Joule heating into the UTCHEM simulator to model the vapor-
ization of water near wells during electrical heating. We also
evaluated the effect of water-saturated fractures during the electri-
cal heating. The main conclusions are
Dissipation of electrical energy is a strong function of electrical
conductivity. Higher dissipated-electrical-energy rate needs
higher electrical conductivity.
Water vaporization decreases the dissipation of electrical
energy, and this restricts the generation of heat. Consequently,
vaporization of water has significant impact on the efficiency of
the electrical-Joule-heating process.
Water saturation in fractures and electrical conductivity of
water phase have important effects on the Joule-heating pro-
cess. The presence of fractures can significantly increase the
effectiveness of the process.
Because of the increase in electrical conductivity, the dissipa-
tion of electrical energy increases in the form of heat, therefore
increasings the reservoir temperature and reducing the oil
viscosity.
Nomenclature
cs volume concentration of water component, ft3/ft3
cw volume concentration of steam component, ft3/ft3
H enthalpy, Btu/lbm
H specific enthalpy of phases, Btu/lbm
I discretized form of electrical current, amp
J the electric source, amp/m3
P pressure, psi
qele electrical-Joule-heating source term, Btu/(ft3D), W/m3
qH enthalpy source or sink term rate, Btu/(ft3D)
qinstu in-situ thermal-conduction source rate, Btu/(ft3D)
qL heat-loss rate to overburden and underburden rocks, Btu/
(ft3D)
R electrical resistivity, X
S fluid saturation
T temperature,  F
u Darcy velocity for each phase, ft/D
U internal energy, Btu/lbm
V discretized form of electric potential or voltage, V
a steam mass quality, lbm/lbm
fps heat capacity of aqueous phase, Btu/(8Flbm)
fpw heat capacity of water, Btu/(8Flbm)
k thermal conductivity of phases, Btu/(8FftD)
l viscosity, cp
q mass or current density, lbm/ft3, amp/m3
r electrical conductivity, sim/m
/ porosity
w the electric potential, V
Subscripts
g gas phase
ME microemulsion phase
o oil phase
w water phase
Acknowledgments
We acknowledge company sponsors of the Reservoir Simulation
Joint Industry Project at the Center for Petroleum and Geosystems
Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.
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Hamid Reza Lashgari is currently a research fellow in the
Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at the
University of Texas at Austin. He has more than 10 years of ex-
perience in reservoir engineering and reservoir modeling in dif-
ferent disciplines. Lashgaris research interests are multiphase-
fluid-flow modeling in porous media, thermal- and chemical-
recovery modeling, as well as thermodynamics, phase behav-
ior, and interphase mass transfer using numerical methods. He
holds bachelors and masters degrees in mining engineering
from the University of Tehran, Iran, and a PhD degree in petro-
leum engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
Mojdeh Delshad is a research professor in the Department of
Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at the University of
Texas at Austin and the president and chief executive officer
of Ultimate EOR Services LLC. Her research interests include res-
ervoir engineering, modeling petrophysical properties, simula-
tion of chemical and CO2 enhanced-oil-recovery (EOR)
methods, and numerical simulation of CO2 storage in saline
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aquifers. Delshad holds masters and PhD degrees in petro-
leum engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
Kamy Sepehrnoori is a professor in the Department of Petro-
leum and Geosystems Engineering at the University of Texas at
Austin, where he holds the W.A. (Monty) Moncrief Centennial
Chair in Petroleum Engineering and is the director of the Reser-
voir Simulation Joint Industry Project in the Center for Petro-
leum and Geosystems Engineering. His research interests and
teaching topics include computational methods, reservoir sim-
ulation, parallel computing, EOR modeling, naturally fractured
reservoirs, and unconventional resources. Sepehrnoori holds
bachelors, masters, and PhD degrees, all from the University
of Texas at Austin.
Eric de Rouffignac is retired and continues to work as an oil
and energy consultant. He lectures on EOR internationally,
teaches thermal recovery to graduate students at the Univer-
sity of Texas at Austin, and is a research consultant at the same
institution. De Rouffignacs main areas of expertise are reservoir
engineering and thermal physics, and his core work has been
the generation, testing, and piloting of novel subsurface EOR
technologies and their integration into ongoing operations in
the US, Canada, Africa, and the Middle East. Previously, he
worked for 3 years for Pemex in Mexico and then joined Shell in
1981. De Rouffignac was a project leader for reservoir engi-
neering and thermal physics for Shell Oil Company in the US.
He is one of the principal inventors and developers of the in-situ
upgrading process and the in-situ conversion process pio-
neered by Shell in the thermal arena. In 2002, de Rouffignac
transferred to the Difficult Hydrocarbon Team in Rijswijk, The
Netherlands, to lead a group working on novel processes for
heavy-oil production. He was a research adviser and subject-
matter expert for thermal recovery for Shell until his retirement
in 2010. De Rouffignac is the author of more than 100 patents
and more than 20 publications. He holds a PhD degree in
physics from the University of Texas at Austin.
2015 SPE Journal