ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY BY USING EM WAVE AND NANOPARTICLES

Production from heavy oil reservoirs has always been a challenge due mainly to one
factor in patiicular high oil viscosity, implying low oil mobility within porous media.
Different methods have been implemented over the years in order to reduce oil
viscosity. Well-known methods include steam injection (e.g., Steam Drive, Steam
Assisted Gravity-SAGD), C02 injection, chemical injection etc [!]. These types of
application are mainly applied to onshore fields where space is available and
operating costs arc much lower with respect to offshore fields. Moreover they may
not be feasible for shallow reservoirs where injection could be an issue due to
uncertainties regarding the cap-rock sealing. The scope ofthis report is to present a
patented non-conventional EOR method for heavy oil reservoirs using radio
Jrequency/electromagnetic heating. An adequate completion design and wellreservoir
cmmection is used for heating the oil. Consequently, oil viscosity may be
reduced, thus allowing its continuous production to surface (eventually by means of
an artificial !ill system included in the well completion) [2]. This method could be
also suitable for offshore fields because it does not require high energy consumption,
or large surface areas, or high operating costs. It can also be suitable for those
shallow reservoirs not suitable for injection processes. This paper presents details of
this new technology and associated simulation results showing its range of
implcmenta tion.