BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM AND GAS ISSN 1982-0593

BARILLAS, J. L. M.; DUTRA JR., T. V.; MATA, W. “IMPROVED OIL RECOVERY PROCESS FOR HEAVY OIL: A REVIEW”. Brazilian Journal of Petroleum and Gas. v. 2, n. 1,
p. 45-54, 2008.

IMPROVED OIL RECOVERY PROCESS FOR HEAVY OIL: A REVIEW

1
J. L. M. Barillas*, 1T. V. Dutra Jr., 1W. Mata
1
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Departamento de Engenharia Química – CT

* To whom all correspondence should be addressed.

Address: Campus Universitário UFRN, Lagoa Nova, Natal/RN - Brasil, CEP: 59078-970.
Telephone: +55 84 3215-3904
E-mail: jennys@eq.ufrn.br

Abstract. Petroleum is one of the main sources of energy in the world, occupying the
first place of the Brazilian energy matrix. Therefore, technologies that involve the
development and application of techniques capable of increasing the profitability of oil
fields are important and require more thorough studies. In Brazil, self-sufficiency has
been already reached in oil production, however it is necessary that improved oil
recovery technologies be continually studied to maintain the current production or to
increase it. Rio Grande do Norte (a Brazilian State) comprises many heavy oil reserves
and the exploration activities in the Brazilian Basins of Campos, Santos and Espírito
Santo have led to the discovery of large amounts of heavy oils. It is possible to increase
heavy oil recovery in some of these reservoirs with the help of improved oil recovery
processes, thus enhancing oil field productivity and profitability. Until recently, heavy
oil reserves did not attract much interest. The lowest oil profitability, the low price of
the oil barrel in the international market, the difficulties involved in its extraction and its
refining, and the large amount of light and medium oils to be explored could not justify
the investments. Maturity of light and medium oil fields and the significant increase in
oil price placed that source of energy under a new perspective. In Brazil, the confirmed
reserves constitute 2.9 billion barrels approximately, 26% of the total reserves, and the
production should reach 450 thousand barrels daily or 25% of the total production
predicted for 2010 (ANP, “Agência Nacional do Petróleo – Brazilian Petroleum
National Agency, 2006). To improve the capacity of drainage of the heavy oils and to
increase its recovery, different thermal methods have been developed. Those more used
involve steam in the process, because they are more efficient than other processes such
as “in situ” combustion or water injection. The steam is used with the intention of
reducing the high oil viscosity and, as a consequence, enhancing phase mobility in
porous media so as to obtain a more efficient drainage up to the producing well.

Keywords: reservoir simulation; reservoir modeling; thermal recovery; IOR; EOR

1. INTRODUCTION increase mobility of the oil that will be

Improved oil recovery methods appear from produced. Thermal methods (steam injection or
the need of increasing the producing life of a in situ combustion), chemical methods
reservoir, augmenting the profitability of the (surfactants injection, Alkali-Surfactant-
process. They are more frequently used when Polymer injection, or polymer injection) or
recovery from conventional methods is less miscible methods (CO2 injection) may be cited
profitable. These processes involve an external as examples of such processes.
agent that can help to reduce the oil viscosity, In conventional methods, low initial
to improve the porous channels, to reduce the recoveries can be due to high oil viscosity in
interfacial tension among the fluids, or to the reservoir and to high interfacial tensions

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BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM AND GAS
BARILLAS, J. L. M.; DUTRA JR., T. V.; MATA, W. “IMPROVED OIL RECOVERY PROCESS FOR HEAVY OIL: A REVIEW”. Brazilian Journal of Petroleum and Gas. v. 2, n. 1,
p. 45-54, 2008.
between injected fluid and oil. If the injected
fluid has lower viscosity than that of the
reservoir oil, it is possible that the displacing
fluid moves easier within the porous media,
finding preferential channels or “fingers”
towards the producing wells. In this case, the
oil is left behind because of poor sweep
efficiency. When high interfacial tensions are
observed, the capacity of the injected fluid to
displace the oil out of the pores of the rock is
very low, leaving high residual oil saturations
in the areas that already had contact with the
injected fluid.
These situations can define which method
should be used to improve oil recovery. The
recovery methods can be divided into three
categories: Miscible Methods, Chemical
Methods and Thermal Methods.
The method to be used will depend on the
characteristics of the reservoir, the rock and
fluid, as well as on the fluid-rock interactions
and even on the required monetary return of
investment. Furthermore, prior to any
methodology implementation, it is necessary to
devise a meticulous project, including numeric
simulations and economical analysis of the
process. With this work, we have particularly
focused on thermal processes, in that they
provide a decrease in oil viscosity contained in
the reservoir, leading to an increase in its
mobility in the porous medium.
1,000,000
100,000
1000 cP
10,000
Viscosity, (cP)
1,000
100
10
1
200 250
Figure 1. Oil viscosity versus temperature for three kinds of heavy oil (Barillas, 2005).
46
2. THERMAL IMPROVED OIL
RECOVERY METHODS
In the world, there are huge reserves of
heavy and extra heavy oil, found mainly in
Venezuela and Canada. In Brazil, however,
large reserves of heavy oil were found onshore
in the Rio Grande do Norte State. In reservoirs
with heavy or extra heavy oils, it may not be
convenient to employ conventional recovery
methods, due to the fact that the high oil
viscosity hinders its movement inside the
porous medium, being surpassed by the
injected fluid and ultimately rendering low
sweep efficiencies. Heating oil reduces its
viscosity and this is the basic principle of
thermal methods. Figure 1 shows the reduction
in oil viscosity with temperature, for three
different heavy oils (with initial viscosities of
300 cP, 1000 cP and 3000 cP at 37.8 °C).
In thermal methods two categories can be
considered: in situ combustion, whereby heat is
generated inside the reservoir, starting with the
combustion of part of the oil found in the
reservoir; and injection of heated-up fluids,
whereby heat is generated at the surface and
transferred to the reservoir through a fluid
injected into the well. In the injection of
heated-up fluids, water is used as a medium of
heat transfer from the surface to the oil zone.
Water can be injected as steam or still in the
liquid state at very high temperatures.
Therefore, two main processes are to be
300 cP@ 37.8 °C
3000 cP
1000 cP@37.8 °C
3000 cP@37.8 °C
300 cP
300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700
Temperature (K)
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BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM AND GAS
BARILLAS, J. L. M.; DUTRA JR., T. V.; MATA, W. “IMPROVED OIL RECOVERY PROCESS FOR HEAVY OIL: A REVIEW”. Brazilian Journal of Petroleum and Gas. v. 2, n. 1,
p. 45-54, 2008.
considered: steam injection and hot water
injection.
These processes involve both vertical and
horizontal wells, as demonstrated by recent
progress on certain technologies, such as
measuring while drilling (MWD), which
improved the success of horizontal wells,
reducing any drilling navigation problems.
Horizontal wells have shown high efficiency in
terms of oil recovery, due to intrinsically larger
reservoir contact areas. However, they are still
more expensive than vertical wells. Therefore,
an economical evaluation is necessary to
compare oil earnings and costs before selection
of the most appropriate configuration.
Some of the technologies that use horizontal
wells are: steam assisted gravity drainage
(SAGD), expanded solvent with gravity
drainage (ES-SAGD) and vapor extraction
(VAPEX). These technologies improve the
fluid contact area in the reservoir, the sweep
efficiencies and oil production. They may also
reduce production costs.
Thermal oil recovery methods have proven
to be successful in most applications. This can
be due to the fact that the oil viscosity is much
more reduced by these processes. The chosen
method should be carefully evaluated and the
analysis should consider physical reservoir
parameters, results from similar reservoirs,
teamwork experience and reservoir simulations.
2.1. In situ Combustion
The in situ Combustion method begins with
the injection of heated air into the oil reservoir.
Heat is generated as a result of oil oxidation,
increasing the temperature. Continuing the
oxidation, the temperature eventually reaches
the so-called "ignition point”, when the
combustion is established. At that point it is
necessary to inject cold air to provide
continuity to the process (Briggs et al., 1987;
Thomas et al., 2001). The combustion front
displaces any trapped reservoir fluids
(including injected gases and those resulting
from combustion), up to the producing well. In
this process care should be taken with
parameters such as combustion temperature and
gravitational segregation of the gases. In the
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conventional process vertical wells are used,
just as water injection or steam injection.
This process is denominated progressive
when the combustion front spreads in the same
direction of the air flow, or reverse, when the
front spreads in the opposite direction. The
progressive combustion can still be classified
as draught, when only enriched air is injected,
or wet, when both air and water are injected.
Oil ignition is obtained after some days or
weeks after the beginning of air injection, and
air continues to be injected later on. Ignition
can be effected through burners at the well
bottom, electric heating or via polytrophic
agents. Self-ignition can also be promoted,
depending on the reservoir temperature and the
oil reactivity degree.
There is a variety of in situ combustion
process known as THAI (Toe-to-Heel-Air-
Injection), whereby a horizontal well is used as
oil producer at the bottom of the reservoir, and
a vertical well is employed as air injector at the
top and near the end (toe) of the horizontal
well. The air injected into the vertical well
generates the combustion front that burns part
of the oil and releases heat. The heat reduces
the oil viscosity inside the reservoir, which
flows to the horizontal well at the bottom, due
to gravity. The combustion front sweeps from
the end of the horizontal producer (toe) up to
the heel, leading to recoveries of oil up to 80%
(Nasr and Ayodele, 2005).
2.2. Steam flooding
The injection of steam as a recovery method
for heavy oil has been used for many years in
the United States, Canada, Brazil and
Venezuela. In this process steam is
continuously injected in one or more vertical
wells, and the oil is pushed away to producing
wells.
Since this process requires injectors and
producers, a larger area inside of the reservoir
is embraced, and oil recoveries higher than
those provided by cyclical steam injection are
obtained (Farouq Ali, 2003). Oil recovery in
this process can reach up to 50% or more, but
thermal efficiency is lower than in cyclical
steam injection (Nasr and Ayodele, 2005).
47
BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM AND GAS
BARILLAS, J. L. M.; DUTRA JR., T. V.; MATA, W. “IMPROVED OIL RECOVERY PROCESS FOR HEAVY OIL: A REVIEW”. Brazilian Journal of Petroleum and Gas. v. 2, n. 1,
p. 45-54, 2008.

Figure 2. Steamflooding in an inverted five-spot grid.

Figure 2 shows and example of steam injection continuous steam injection. In the case of very
in an inverted 5-spot grid. viscous oils, stimulation prior to continuous
Recent projects for oil recovery have injection is essential to obtain flow
proposed the combination of vertical and communication between injectors and
horizontal wells, but some technical problems producers. This communication can be
still exist such as minimization of the impact of established through the creation of fractures
the gas cap and of water influx (Nasr and among the wells, which can be done by
Ayodele, 2005). injecting steam at sufficiently high pressures
The methods of continuous and cyclical (Briggs et al., 1987).
steam injection are frequently combined and Figure 3 shows one example of cumulative
used, whereby wells produce oil through oil and oil rate versus time with and without
cyclical stimulation before the beginning of steam injection for an inverted 5-spot pattern. It

Figure 3. Cumulative oil and oil rate versus time with and without
steam injection for an inverted 5-spot pattern.

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BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM AND GAS
BARILLAS, J. L. M.; DUTRA JR., T. V.; MATA, W. “IMPROVED OIL RECOVERY PROCESS FOR HEAVY OIL: A REVIEW”. Brazilian Journal of Petroleum and Gas. v. 2, n. 1,
p. 45-54, 2008.
can be seen that cumulative oil after 16 years of
production is much bigger (100,000 SC m3) in
the case with steam injection as compared to
that without steam injection (20,000 SC m3).
Oil recovery in this process depends on
several factors, such as viscosity decrease, oil
swelling and, most importantly, the reduction
in oil saturation in the steam zone. The
displacement efficiency is increased by the heat
to the proportion that more oil flows. Oil
saturations behind the steam zone can be as low
as 5%.
The losses of heat generated at the surface at
high cost are significant in injection lines, wells
and reservoir formation. For that reason, heat
should not be used in deep, small-thickness or
low-permeability reservoirs.
Oil field staff should be familiarized with
the operation of the steam generator in order to
maintain the efficiency. Operations at high
temperatures carry additional safety risks.
Fails in cementation, in conventional
completed wells, are frequent under thermal
operations. The new wells should be completed
and equipped to operate at high temperatures.
The production of sand is normal in thermal
projects. The formation of emulsion is possible
with some oils during steam injection.
The initial investment in steam generators is
high. The rent of portable units to test the
response of the reservoir to the method can be
considered to minimize the risk.
Prompt availability and cost of fuel for
water heating in the operation of steam
generation are important factors to be
accounted for. Both natural gas and oil have
advantages and disadvantages. Generators fed
with oil can convert about 15 m3 of water for
each m3 of burned oil. Therefore at least 1 m3
of oil should be recovered for each 15 m3 of
water injected as steam.
Thermal operations require higher attention
from engineering and operation staff to keep
them efficient. High viscosity oils, usually
considered for thermal projects, are also the
ones with lower price. The result of high
investment, high operation cost and smaller oil
price is usually involved with low profit.
Successful projects generally use centralized
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facilities to reduce production costs and steam
generation (Rosa et al., 2006).
2.3. Steam cyclical injection
Cyclical stimulation (also known as huff n'
puff) was accidentally discovered in Eastern
Venezuela in 1959 (Nasr and Ayodele, 2005).
In this process, steam is injected under high
pressure and temperature. The high injection
pressure dilates or fractures the reservoir rock
and the high temperature helps to reduce oil
viscosity. The cyclical injection takes place in
three stages:
Stage 1, injection time: Steam is injected in
a well, for a certain period of time (days or
weeks).
Stage 2, soaking time: After the injection
period, the well is closed for some days to
equalize pressure and exchange heat.
Stage 3, production time: The same well
used for steam injection is used to produce
heated oil.
At the beginning, oil is produced at high
rates, which eventually begin to rapidly
decrease. The cycle can be repeated several
times, whilst still economically viable. This
process has as main advantage the fast return
during early production. However oil recovery
can be as low as 10 or 20% of the original oil
volume (Farouq, 2003).
This process can use horizontal and vertical
wells, depending on the reservoir thickness.
The cyclical steam injection has been used in
several oil fields with success, like in Alberta,
Canada, where oil viscosity is about
100.000 cp. In heavy oil fields of Venezuela
and Brazil this thermal recovery method has
also been used with success. In California, it is
used as a first stage before continuous steam
injection (Farouq Ali, 2003). Recently, this
technology has also been used in horizontal
wells, mainly in Venezuela and in Alberta
(Canada).
Dominant mechanisms in heat transfer are:
conduction and forced convection during
injection, conduction and a minimum
convection effect during the soaking period,
and counter current of convection-conduction
during the production period.
49
BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM AND GAS
BARILLAS, J. L. M.; DUTRA JR., T. V.; MATA, W. “IMPROVED OIL RECOVERY PROCESS FOR HEAVY OIL: A REVIEW”. Brazilian Journal of Petroleum and Gas. v. 2, n. 1,
p. 45-54, 2008.
A significant characteristic of steam
stimulation is that the injected heat is
concentrated close to the well, where the flow
lines converge and the pressure gradients are
highest. Steam stimulation tends, inherently, to
place the heat where it will make the best
benefit. The largest difference among the
stimulation in cyclical steam injection and the
conventional continuous steam injection is that,
in cyclical stimulation, the displaced oil
becomes and remains warm as it flows to the
producing well, whilst in conventional
continuous injection oil should pass through
colder areas of the reservoir.
It is important to highlight that, in cyclical
steam injection, the reservoir can contain such
viscous oil that can be considered solid. The
steam role is “to dissolve that solid” and to
allow it to flow through the reservoir. One of
the operational conditions in that process is
related to the steam required to increase the
reservoir temperature to a certain level, taking
into account the heat losses.
In some point of the cyclical steam injection
process, there should be an effective driving
force to displace the oil to the producing well.
If the oil already has substantial mobility and
can be produced by conventional means,
without steam at considerable rates, then the
Oil rate (m³ std/day)
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Jan-04 Sep-06 Jun-09 Mar-12
Without cyclic steam
Figure 4. Oil rate in 20 years of production in a numerical model with and without
cyclic steam injection (Queiroz, 2005).
50
same push drive or reservoir pressure can
transport oil to the producing well. The initial
flow is faster than in conventional steam
process production because of resistance. When
cold oil is initially immobile or almost
immobile, the reservoir pressure is inadequate
to the displacement of the oil to the producing
well in a practical rate and, in that case, other
driving forces are required.
The soaking time after steam injection can
vary from a few days to weeks. There are
different opinions regarding optimization of the
soaking time. In some cases, mechanical and
operational considerations will favor a short
closing time in the steam injection.
The treated well is then put in production
and should produce by natural lifting, with its
own reservoir energy, during days. This is
desirable, because the imposed bottom well
pressure tends to prevent water flashing at high
temperatures. In the following period, the well
will have to be pumped. In some cases, sand
control becomes the main operational problem.
Frequently, oil rate decreases in subsequent
cycles, as can be seen in Figure 4. If the
cyclical injection is to be followed by a
continuous injection – as observed in recent
times – it will be desirable to determine the
number of cycles that will maximize the oil
Dec-14 Sep-17 Jun-20
Date
10 Cyclic injections
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BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM AND GAS
BARILLAS, J. L. M.; DUTRA JR., T. V.; MATA, W. “IMPROVED OIL RECOVERY PROCESS FOR HEAVY OIL: A REVIEW”. Brazilian Journal of Petroleum and Gas. v. 2, n. 1,
p. 45-54, 2008.

3
Cumulative oil (SC m )
60000

50000

40000

30000

20000

10000

0
jan-04 sept-06 jun-09 mar-12 dec-14 sept-17 jun-20

Date

Primary production 1 Cycles 2 Cycles 3 Cycles

4 Cycles 5 Cycles 6 Cycles 7 Cycles
8 Cycles 9 Cycles 10 Cycles

Figure 5. Oil rate in 20 years of production in a model with and without cyclic steam injection.

recovery for the cyclical injection and steam
injection.
Figure 5 shows cumulative oil versus time in
an optimization of the number of cycles in a
cyclic steam injection. In this example the
maximum cumulative oil can be obtained, with
8 or 9 cycles (Queiroz 2005).
The response for a cyclic steam injection
varies considerably with the reservoir
characteristics. As an example, for highly tilted
and thick California reservoirs, gravity
drainage is dominant and many cycles are
possible, since less viscous, warm oil continue
to flow down in the direction of the producing
well.
Regardless of the reservoir type, the cyclic
injection becomes usually less efficient with
increasing number of cycles. This fact is
evident in several production statistics. The
average and maximum rates as long as total oil
recovery decrease in the last cycles.
2.4. Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD)
Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD)
and its variations are technologies that have
been recently considered as more effective in
the recovery of heavy oil and bituminous sands.
The method involves two horizontal parallel
wells vertically separated by a short distance,
where the top well serves as steam injector and
the bottom well picks up reservoir water,
condensed water and heated oil. Gravity is the
acting force in this process. When steam is
continually injected at the top well, oil is heated
up and forms a steam chamber that grows up
and towards the surroundings (Butler, 1991), as

Oil flow to
Oil producer well
Reservoir Steam flow
to interface
Injector well

Producer well

Figure 6. Butler’s SAGD theory (Butler, 1991).

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BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM AND GAS
BARILLAS, J. L. M.; DUTRA JR., T. V.; MATA, W. “IMPROVED OIL RECOVERY PROCESS FOR HEAVY OIL: A REVIEW”. Brazilian Journal of Petroleum and Gas. v. 2, n. 1,
p. 45-54, 2008.
can be observed in Figure 6. The temperature
inside the steam chamber becomes essentially
equal to the temperature of the injected steam.
It is noticed that steam condenses at the
interface with cold oil and heat is transferred to
the oil. Then, heated oil and condensed water
drain by gravity, until the producing horizontal
well located at the bottom of the reservoir.
In this process the steam chamber begins to
grow upward approaching the reservoir top and
later extends horizontally (Butler, 1991). It may
keep growing up with continuous steam
injection. If the injector well is located very
close to the producer, at the base of the
reservoir, the vapor will tend to go up, and
condensed fluids will go down. Therefore, the
trend of the steam to flow directly to the
producing well will be reduced. As a result, the
SAGD process provides the drainage of a large
area of the reservoir. This process depends
mainly on the difference of densities between
the steam chamber and the liquid phase, and
also on the vertical effective permeability of the
reservoir (Nasr and Ayodele, 2005).
According to Serhat and Bagci (2001), the
consequences of this theory refer to the growth
of the steam chamber, which is necessary in oil
production. In other words, the oil production
happens while steam is injected, and the higher
the steam temperature the higher will be the oil
temperature, thus yielding higher oil
Figure 7. SAGD process in a homogeneous reservoir.
52
production. Also, production of low-viscosity
oil can be enhanced.
Due to the fact that oil production in the
SAGD process depends basically on gravity
drainage, wells with large lengths guarantee
good oil productions and, as a consequence, the
project profitability is augmented. Compared to
conventional steam injection, SAGD presents a
very significant advantage: in continuous
injection, oil is pushed to a cold region, and its
mobility is low since it stays ahead of the steam
zone. However, in the SAGD process, oil is
drained in a flow which is approximately
parallel to the steam chamber, still arriving at
the producer at warm temperatures, and,
consequently, with high mobility. Furthermore,
the tendency of the steam to create a path
through the oil is used in favor of the process
(Butler, 2001).
In addition to the benefits of the gravity
effects, this process foresees more systematic
steam coverage of the reservoir, provides a
larger contact of oil volume and keeps the oil
warm during production. The SAGD
performance can be significantly affected by
the selection of the geometry and by the
operational parameters (Barillas, 2006).
Examples of this can be: vertical distance
between wells, horizontal length of both
injector and producer wells, presence of shale,
permeability, oil viscosity, aquifer
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BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM AND GAS
BARILLAS, J. L. M.; DUTRA JR., T. V.; MATA, W. “IMPROVED OIL RECOVERY PROCESS FOR HEAVY OIL: A REVIEW”. Brazilian Journal of Petroleum and Gas. v. 2, n. 1,
p. 45-54, 2008.

Figure 8. Cumulative oil and oil rate in 16 years of production in

a model with SAGD and without steam injection.

characteristics, gas cap, and others. Figure 7
shows an example of the SAGD process in a
homogeneous reservoir.
Figure 8 compares the SAGD process with
cold production in terms of cumulative oil and
oil rate. It can be seen that the SAGD process
improves both cumulative oil and oil rate.
2.5. Expanding solvent (ES-SAGD)
This process is a combination of solvent and
steam injection that take advantage of the
benefits from the heat provided by steam and
the miscibility offered by the solvent. This is a
novel process that has already been tested in oil
fields, resulting in improvement of oil rate
production and steam oil ratio (SOR). This
process requires less energy than conventional
SAGD.
The basic concept of ES-SAGD can be
pictorially observed in Figure 9. The idea in
this process is to inject a light hydrocarbon
additive at low concentration together with
steam, in a process whereby the dominant force
is gravity. The additive is selected in such way
that can evaporate and condense at water
conditions. In this way, solvent can condense
with steam close to the steam chamber
interface. The added hydrocarbon is injected in
the vapor form. The condensed solvent dilutes
in oil and, aided by the heat, reduces the oil

Steam
Reservató
Oil rio
de Condensed solvent
reservoir
óleo Vapor solvent
Poço Injetor
Injector well

Poço produtor
Producer well

Figure 9. Basic theory of ES-SAGD.

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BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM AND GAS
BARILLAS, J. L. M.; DUTRA JR., T. V.; MATA, W. “IMPROVED OIL RECOVERY PROCESS FOR HEAVY OIL: A REVIEW”. Brazilian Journal of Petroleum and Gas. v. 2, n. 1,
p. 45-54, 2008.

viscosity in the reservoir (Nasr and Ayodele, BRIGGS, P. J.; FULLEYLOVE, R. J.;
2005). WRIGHT, M.S.; BARON, R. P.
Development of heavy oil reservoirs. In:
FIFTH SPE MIDDLE EAST OIL SHOW,
3. CONCLUSIONS held in Manama, Bahrain, 1987, March 7-
Thermal oil recovery methods are used 10, technical paper SPE 15748.
mainly in heavy oils or bituminous sands with BUTLER, R. M.: Thermal Recovery of oil and
the intention of reducing oil viscosity in the bitumen. Department of Chemical and
reservoir, increasing its mobility and allowing Petroleum Engineering. Prentice Hall: New
better displacement to the producing wells. The Jersey. No 7, p. 285-358, 1991.
selected process always depends on reservoir BUTLER, R. M.: Application of SAGD,
characteristics, reservoir fluids, area and related process growing in Canada. Oil and
experience from similar reservoirs. Due to its Gas Journal. 74-78, 14 May, 2001.
complexity, numerical analyses, reservoir FAROUQ ALI, S. M.: Heavy oil-evermore
modeling and profitability analyses are always mobile. Journal of Petroleum Science &
required in order to determine which process is Engineering. 37, 5-9, 2003.
more efficient in minimizing the amount of NASR, T. N.; AYODELE, O. R.: Thermal
injected fluids. techniques for the recovery oh heavy oil
bitumen. In: SPE INTERNATIONAL
IMPROVED OIL CONFERENCE IN ASIA
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS PACIFIC HELD IN KUALA LUMPUR.
The authors wish to thank PPGEQ, LEAP, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 5-6 December,
Petrobras and the PRH-ANP 14 for the support 2005, technical paper SPE 97488.
received in the execution of this work. QUEIROZ, G. O.: Otimização da injeção
cíclica de vapor em reservatórios de óleo
pesado. 2006. 135 p. Thesis (Chemical
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