CUNHA, A. L.; http://lattes.cnpq.br/2786681484319610; CUNHA, Acto de Lima.
Resumo:
The recovery of heavy oil by injection of water is one of the techniques most used
by the oil industry. The injection of hot water in the reservoir
changes the viscosity and mobility of the fluids, which helps to increase
the oil recovery factor. Thus, this work aims to study numerically the process of
recovering heavy oil from petroleum reservoir by water injection. Using the
commercial package ANSYS CFX 11, the three-dimensional transient numerical
simulations were performed. The effects of the variable mass flow rate of water injected
and the position of the water injection section (inside and on the surface) in the
reservoir, considering isothermal and non-isothermal process, were evaluated. Results
of the volume fraction distributions and the reservoir phases’ temperatures, as well as
pressure, cumulative oil volume and oil recovery factor during the process are presented
and evaluated. Porosity and permeability throughout the reservoir were considered as
constant and according to the “Five spots” scheme a mesh of six injection and two
producer wells was used. It was found that the oil recovery factor varied with the
temperature, the flow rate of water injected and the location of water injection section.
The numerical simulation results showed that the oil recovery factor increased by 29%
(in a non-isothermal case) and by 18% (in a isothermal case) when water was injected
on the surface of the reservoir compared to that of the internal injection of the reservoir.
