Heavy Oil Upgrading In-Situ via Solvent Injection and Combustion – A “New” Method

I005 Heavy oil upgrading in–situ via solvent injection and combustion: A “new” method 1 LOUIS M CASTANIER AND ANTHONY R KOVSCEK Petroleum engineering department Green Earth Sciences Building Stanford University Stanford California 94305 USA THIS PAPER PRESENTS A SCOPING STUDY OF CYCLIC APPLICATION OF SOLVENT INJECTION AND IN-SITU COMBUSTION AIMED AT PRODUCTION AND UPGRADING OF HEAVY OILS. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS SHOW THAT THIS COMBINED METHOD IS ECONOMICAL FOR A BROAD RANGE OF HEAVY-OIL RESERVOIRS. IT ALSO CAN BE APPLIED TO HORIZONTAL OR VERTICAL WELLS. Introduction By far the most widely used recovery method for heavy oils is steam