IN SITU COMBUSTION

 PRESENTED BY:
AMIT KUMAR SINGH
R270307004
INTEGRATED (APE)+MBA(UAM)
SEMESTER : viii
AT A GLANCE
 about heavy oil
 Introduction to ISC

 Process of ISC

 Indian scenario

 Advantages of ISC over steam injection

 Disadvantages

 Conclusion

 Bibliography
INTRODUCTION
Potential additions to HC reserves come from two sources
– New discoveries, and
– Existing fields
gap between discovery and consumption is big and may grow.
There is approx 6-9 trillion bbl of heavy oil in the world in form of bitumen, Tar sands.

Heavy crude oil is any type of crude oil which does not flow easily.
 Heavy crude oil has been defined as any liquid petroleum with an API gravity less than
20°, meaning that its specific gravity is greater than 0.933. They are characterized by
low hydrogen/carbon ratios, low gas/oil ratio, as well as significant asphaltenes, sulfur
and heavy metals.

 In short, heavy oil reservoirs generally present low-energy and low productivity wells.
These characteristics make recovery challenging.

 Reason: biodegradation, its effect , optimal conditions: <80 degree

 Production, transportation, and refining of heavy crude oil present special challenges
compared to light crude oil.
In-situ combustion is a thermal enhanced oil recovery process based on the principle of
reducing viscosity by heating of oil in the reservoir itself.
Used for heavy oil having API gravity less than 20.

PROCESS:
fire is generated inside the reservoir by injecting a gas containing oxygen, such as air.
 A special heater in the well ignites the oil in the reservoir and starts a fire.

The heat generated by burning the heavy hydrocarbons in place produces hydrocarbon
cracking, vaporization of light hydrocarbons and reservoir water in addition to the
deposition of heavier hydrocarbons known as coke.

As the fire moves, the burning front pushes ahead a mixture of hot combustion gases,
steam and hot water, which in turn reduces oil viscosity and displaces oil toward production
wells.

Additionally, the light hydrocarbons and the steam move ahead of the burning front,
condensing into liquids, which adds the advantages of miscible displacement and hot water
flooding.
Once a reservoir is chosen, in-situ combustion is carried out in three phases: ignition,
process implementation, measurements and interpretation

In situ combustion is also known as fire flooding

The ignition process is carried by using a mobile unit called Ignition
Trailer
 TYPES OF ISC
 1.TOP/ DOWN COMBUSTION: it involves stable propagation of
high temp combustion front from top to bottom of heavy oil
 Combustion is initiated by injection of gas at top of reservoir

 Most of injected gas is consumed in high temp combustion

reaction, rest in low temp reaction to produce coke.

 2.THAI:Air is injected at top of reservoir near toe creating

combustion front nearby to it
 the combustion front sweep oil from toe to heel of well recovering
80%of original oil in place.
Introduction to Indian scenario
Mehsana asset: highest oil producing onshore asset of ONGC.
annual crude oil production of the Asset is in the tune of 2.35 MMT.

Mehsana Asset is having oil fields producing both heaviest crude and
one of the lightest crude in India with API gravity ranging from 13-420.

Heavy oil fields at Mehsana were found during 1970-71. These heavy oil
fields belong to northern part of Cambay basin are Santhal, Balol, Lanwa
and Becharaji. These fields cover an area of about 70 Sq Km and contain
around 150 MMT oil in place.

Proposal

The project was initiated at Balol field on pilot scale in 1991. Based on
encouraging results, in-situ combustion technique was implemented on
commercial scale in 1997 at Balol and Santhal fields.
Reasons for using ISC in Balol and Santhal fields:
Balol and Santhal are two major fields of the heavy oil belt bearing oil with API
gravity between 150-180.

The crude is asphaltic in nature containing 6-8% asphaltene and has oil viscosity
in the range of 50 to 450 cps in reservoir conditions.

 Reservoir pressure and temperature are 100 kg/cm2 and 70°C respectively.
Reservoirs have permeability of the order of 3-8 darcies and are operating under
active water drive.

High mobility contrast between oil and water has resulted into primary recovery
below 13%.

 ARTIFICIAL LIFT METHOD FAILED

Other highlights of the project are outlined below :

1. ONGC is one of the few organizations in the world, which has taken up In-situ
combustion process on such a large scale.

2. Total 68 wells have been converted into EOR injectors at Mehsana Asset and
most of the EOR injectors are old producer wells. They have been converted to
injector wells after proper washing and cleaning of wells.

3. Ignition is being done in the reservoir at an average depth of 990 meters, having
100 Kg/cm2 pressure and 70OC temperature

4. Produced water/ effluent is being utilized after necessary treatment for

injection during wet phase.

5. Injection of air @ 0.7 MMSm3/d resulted in increasing oil

production from the field from 350m3/d to about 700 m3/d with corresponding
reduction in average water cut from 80% to
55%.
6. It has not only given a new lease of life to these fields but has also increased
the oil recovery factor from 6-12% to 39-45%.
KEY PARAMETERS FOR DESIGNING OF ISC
JOB

 Lateral extent of reservoirs

 Reservoir Thickness
 Structural altitude and Dip
 Sand Uniformity and Texture
 Vertical Depth
 pressure
 Permeability
 Oil saturation and porosity
 ADVANTAGES

 It uses air, the least expensive and the most readily available fluid as injectant.

 The process has proven to be economical in recovering heavy oil from shallow
reservoirs and light oil from deep reservoirs.

 It permits the use of wider well spacing and results in higher ultimate oil
recovery
  
 It is an ideal process for producing oil from thin formation.

 Reservoir pressure has no effect on technical success of the process.

 The formation permeability has minimal effect on the process.

 The process can be applied in deep reservoirs where water flood or steam flood
is not effective due to high lifting costs and excessive heat losses respectively.
DISADVANTGES

 The power required for compressing air together with maintenance

costs of the compressor are high enough
 Expensive pilot is the only satisfactory answer to judge the feasibility
of a particular project.
 Planning and design of a combustion project is more expensive.
 Combustion suffers from poor sweep efficiency caused by mobility
contrast between injection air and reservoir fluid.
CONCLUSION
 Successful air injection requires robust engineering based on an
informed understanding of the process.
 Though the technique is costly for oil production, but as oil prices are
going up and conventional reserves are going down day by day, this
technique is becoming more and more techno-economically feasible
for exploitation of heavy oil reserves.

Opportunity exists in terms of increasing oil production, adding

reserves and making money, provided ISC is operated in high
temperature mode.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Roychaudhury S et al. “Experience with in-situ combustion pilot in presence
of edge water” presented & published, 6th UNITAR,Houston, 1995
2. Roychaudhury S et al “Extension of In-Situ Combustion Process from Pilot to
Semi-Commercial Stage in Heavy Oil Field of Balol”SPE 37547, 1997
3. Rao N S et al. “Results Of Spontaneous Ignition Test In Balol Heavy Oil
Field” SPE 38067, 1997
4. Pankaj Gupta et al, “In situ combustion delivers results”, World Oil November
2007.
5. Nelson & McNeil, “How to engineer an in-situ combustion pilot”, Oil & Gas
Journal, June 1961
THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THOSE
WHO BELIEVE IN THE BEAUTY OF
THEIR DREAMS
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
Thank You