Publications

The key importance of steamflood in a heavy oil reservoir is to provide heating at the right place. The provision of heating becomes a challenge in heterogeneous reservoirs, as it may create some unswept areas. Kangen Sand in Area X represents a heterogeneous reservoir that is indicated by high Vshale content, which leads to various times of steam breakthrough, injectivity issues and high-pressure patterns. This paper shows how Area X deploys a realistic steamflood conceptual model, which represents actual steamflood response corresponding to its reservoir heterogeneity. The study began with a quantitative approach to understand the reservoir static parameters that have the most influence with actual steamflood performance. A drawing of aerial steam distribution was done to understand the area or pattern with slow progress in steam distribution compared to other patterns, and to conduct a deep dive on relationship between slow heating and reservoir heterogeneity, a realistic steamflood conceptual model was then developed, taking into account the associated response and understanding of unforeseen reservoir heterogeneity. The updated steamflood conceptual model has led the team to develop an optimization plan by redirecting heating to unswept areas. Also to acquire new surveillance to update the conceptual model. Redirecting steam injection by performing additional perforations in the injectors has successfully improved heating direction to unswept areas, which is confirmed by a new trend of wellhead temperature in producers and temperature response in observation wells. The leading indicators show an increase in well injectivity, and spinner survey confirmed additional perforated injection. The lagging indicators also show a pattern of oil production increase and no subsurface high-pressure pattern has been recently recorded. This study shows that a conceptual model validated with actual condition can easily apprise unforeseen reservoir heterogeneity, and the optimization plan can be selected to the right place of reservoir target.