Enhancing SAGD Efficiency: A Study on Steam Quality and Injection Rate Optimization

DOI: 10.14800/IOGR.1305

Abstract

The production of heavy oil presents a significant challenge due to its high viscosity, which limits natural flow. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) in enhancing heavy oil recovery by employing a comprehensive numerical simulation model. A commercial compositional simulator was utilized to evaluate the impact of steam quality and injection rate on recovery efficiency, using reservoir properties from Oilfield Alpha. The results demonstrate that optimizing steam quality is critical, with an increase from 0.6 to 0.8 leading to an improvement in recovery from 43.58% to 46.16%. Additionally, higher injection rates were shown to substantially boost oil production, with simulations at 700 bbl/day achieving a final recovery factor of 52.691%. These findings highlight the importance of optimizing both steam quality and injection rates to maximize SAGD performance, providing valuable insights for future field applications and the refinement of heavy oil production strategies.