Single well cross steam and gravity drainage (SW-XSAGD)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10995596-B2
Application number	US-201615363403-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 29, 2016
Priority date	Dec 1, 2015
Publication date	May 4, 2021
Grant date	May 4, 2021

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a particularly effective well configuration that can be used for single well cross steam assisted gravity drainage (SW-XSAGD) wherein a single well has multiple injection sections each separated by a production segment that is completed with passive FCDs to control steam flashing.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A single well cross steam assisted gravity drainage (SW-SGAD) well configuration for producing heavy oils from a reservoir, comprising:
a) an array of horizontal SW-SAGD wells near a bottom of a payzone in a heavy oil reservoir;
b) each SW-SAGD well having an outer casing inside of which is an injection tubing beside a production tubing;
c) each SW-SAGD well having a plurality of injection segments and a plurality of production segments between a toe end and a heel end of said SW-SAGD well, each injection segment alternating with a production segment, and each said injection segment fitted for steam injection and each production segment fitted for oil production;
d) one or more packers between each injection segment and each production segment to isolate steam injection from oil production;
e) each production segment comprising a plurality of passive flow control devices (FCDs) on said outer casing;
f) each production tubing being blank in each injection segment such that produced oil can bypass said injection segment and being perforated, slotted or absent in each production segment.

2. The SW-SAGD well configuration of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of roughly parallel horizontal SW-SAGD wells originate from a single wellpad or a plurality of well pads, and where steam injection points on adjacent SW-SAGD wells align.

3. The SW-SAGD well configuration of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of roughly parallel horizontal SW-SAGD wells originate from a single wellpad, and where steam injection segments on adjacent SW-SAGD wells are staggered.

4. A method of producing heavy oil, comprising providing the SW-SAGD well configuration of claim 3 in a heavy oil reservoir, injecting steam into each of said injection segments and simultaneously producing heavy oil in each of said production segments.

5. The SW-SAGD well configuration of claim 1 , wherein the injection segments are 1-20 meters in length and production segments are 150-200 meters in length.

6. The SW-SAGD well configuration of claim 5 , wherein adjacent SW-SAGD wells in said array are 50-200 meters apart.

7. The SW-SAGD well configuration of claim 1 , wherein adjacent SW-SAGD wells are 75-150 meters apart.

8. The SW-SAGD well configuration of claim 1 , wherein the injection segments are 1-50 meters in length and the production segments are 100-300 meters in length, and the blank tubing is 10-40 meters in length and adjacent SW-SAGD wells are 50-200 meters apart.

9. A method of producing heavy oil, comprising providing the SW-SAGD well configuration of claim 8 in a heavy oil reservoir, injecting steam into each of said injection segments and simultaneously producing heavy oil in each of said production segments.

10. The SW-SAGD well configuration of claim 1 , wherein the injection segments are 1-20 meters in length and the production segments are 150-200 meters in length, the blank tubing is 10-20 meters in length and adjacent SW-SAGD wells are 75-150 meters apart.

11. A method of producing heavy oil, comprising providing the SW-SAGD well configuration of claim 10 in a heavy oil reservoir, injecting steam into each of said injection segments and simultaneously producing heavy oil in each of said production segments.

12. A method of producing heavy oil, comprising providing the SW-SAGD well configuration of claim 1 in a heavy oil reservoir, injecting steam into each of said injection segments and simultaneously producing heavy oil in each of said production segments.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein injected steam includes solvent for solvating said heavy oil.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein said method includes a preheating phase wherein steam is injected along an entire length of each SW-SAGD well followed by a soaking period.

15. The method of claim 14 , including three cyclic preheating phases.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein said soaking period is 10-30 days.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein said soaking period is 20 days.

Assignees

• Conocophillips Co

Inventors

• Chen Qing
• Menard Wendell P

Classifications

• E21B43/305

  comprising at least one inclined or horizontal well · CPC title

• E21B43/2406 Primary

  Steam assisted gravity drainage [SAGD] · CPC title

• E21B43/14

  Obtaining from a multiple-zone well · CPC title

• E21B33/12

  Packers; Plugs (used for cementing E21B33/134, E21B33/16) · CPC title