Three-dimensional studies of the in-situ combustion process in heterogeneous reservoirs

Abstract

A three-dimensional combustion cell was used to investigate experimentally the effect of reservoir heterogeneities on the in-situ combustion process. Four experiments were conducted to study the combustion process within specially prepared unconsolidated sand packs saturated with water and a medium-heavy 930 kg/m3 (20.7° API) crude oil. One experiment was performed using a homogeneous sand pack as a base case against which the results of the other experiments might be compared. In another experiment, the sand pack was prepared with a thin, high-permeability streak running horizontally through the mid-plane of the sand pack. In the other two experiments, the matrix consisted of two sand pack ..