SPE-194628-MS

Development Optimization for Improving Oil Recovery of Cold Production in

a Foamy Extra-Heavy Oil Reservoir

Zhaopeng Yang, Xingmin Li, and Heping Chen, PetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum
Exploration&Development; Hariharan Ramachandran, The University of Texas at Austin, Hildebrand Department
of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering; Yang Shen, PetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum
Exploration&Development; Heng Yang, Zhijun Shen, and Gong Nong, China National Oil and Gas Exploration and
Development Corporation

Copyright 2019, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Oil and Gas India Conference and Exhibition held in Mumbai, India, 9-11 April 2019.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents
of the paper have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect
any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written
consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may
not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of SPE copyright.

Abstract
The block M as a foamy extra-heavy oil field in the Carabobo Area, the eastern Orinoco Belt, has been
exploited by foamy oil cold production utilizing horizontal wells. The early producing area has been put into
production about 10 years, existing problems of productivity declining and produced gas-oil ratio rising.
Therefore, the development optimization for the early producing area should be conducted in order to obtain
the more profitable oil recovery.
A typical foamy oil reservoir simulation model using 5 components was created to understand the
remaining oil distribution features. Based on above understandings, technical strategies were proposed for
infilling well deployment in the early producing area.
Results show that the gravity drainage and gravity differentiation of oil and gas during the cold production
of foamy extra-heavy oil from horizontal wells by foam flooding are the main mechanisms for formation
of remaining oil. And the influence factors of remaining oil distribution include horizontal well spacing,
reservoir thickness, reservoir heterogeneity, interlayer distribution and reservoir rhythm. Thus tor foamy
extra-heavy oil CHOP process, the enriched remaining oil area is the place between two adjacent horizontal
wells with well spacing of 600m. Therefore, well infilling is an effective measure improving oil recovery
factor of cold production, and the well infilling should be implemented as soon as possible to obtain better
performance of cold production.

Introduction
Some extra-heavy oil reservoirs in the eastern Orinoco heavy oil belt present anomalous ‘Foamy oil flow’ by
cold production. ‘Foamy oil flow’ is a term coined to describe a form of two-phase oil-gas flow that appears
to occur during solution gas drive in heavy oil reservoirs and show high oil production rate, low producing
gas oil ratio and low reservoir pressure decline rate (Sheng et al,1999; Kumar et al,2002; Zhao et al 2016).
2 SPE-194628-MS

Currently the most economic recovery process for foamy oil reservoirs in the Orinoco heavy oil belt is
cold heavy oil production (CHOP) with horizontal wells by natural energy in the early development stage
(Mu Longxin et al, 2008; D.W. Boardman et al, 2001; John L. Stalder, 2001). M.de Mirabai took the MFB-53
extra-heavy and foamy oil reservoir for research object, and provided the definition of scenarios and an
optimum exploitation scheme. It was also figured out that preliminary cold production with horizontal wells
should be used prior to secondary recovery processes to achieve a 30% saving in the overall project cost
(M.de Mirabai, 1997). M.Blanco created a simulation model of MFB-5 reservoir in Bare block to complete
the development scheme and optimized the new well deployment which would increase recoverable oil in
place by 9% (M. Blanco,2001). And previous research about foamy oil CHOP in Orinoco heavy oil belt
demonstrated that the horizontal location is a significant factor influencing the recovery factor during CHOP
period (Larry J. Gipson et al, 2002; Balke, S. et al,2002; Stalder, J. et al, 2001).
The reservoirs of above research areas were basically at the early stage of CHOP development. In this
work, the research area is the early producing area of block M in the Carabobo Area, the eastern Orinoco
Belt. The early producing area as a foamy oil reservoir has been put into production about 10 years, existing
problems of productivity declining, produced gas-oil ratio rising and unclear remaining potential areas for
CHOP. This situation motivates the study of remaining oil distribution and exploiting of foamy extra-heavy
oil reservoir in order to improve the oil recovery of cold production period.
Thus typical foamy oil reservoir simulation models were created to understand the remaining oil
distribution features. Then the infilling well deployment was proposed for the early producing area to
improve oil recovery factor of cold production.

Reservoir background
The research area is located in the Carabobo area of eastern Orinoco heavy oil belt, Venezuela. Structurally,
the block presents as a north-dipping monocline, being high at the south and low at the north. This reservoir
is featured with high porosity, high permeability and high saturation, containing braided channel plain
deposits, as well as continuous and very thick sand bodies, making them as unconsolidated sandstone
lithologic extra-heavy oil reservoirs. Meanwhile, this reservoir has rather high initial gas oil ratio and oil
mobility, and can form foamy oil in the cold recovery process. This reservoir has an average depth of 890
m, porosity of 30%~36%, permeability of 0.5~2D, and average oil saturation of 86%. The initial reservoir
pressure is 8.5MPa, the formation oil viscosity is 2900~3200 mPa•s, and the initial gas oil ratio is 16 m3/
m3. And the area contains three-layer series of development: L1, L2, and L3, from top to bottom.

Main Controlling Factors of Remaining Oil

Simulation Model
The ideal numerical simulation models were established for mimicking the CHOP phases of foamy oil
reservoirs using CMG STARS software. For CHOP phase, this foamy oil model enables the definitions of
three forms of gas components to represent non-equilibrium foamy oil behavior through bubble formation
and growth during gas exsolution (Bayon et al,2002; Uddin,2005):
a. The solution gas: dissolved in the oil phase;
b. The dispersed gas: released from the oil into a non-connected bubbles form dispersed in the live oil,
due to the pressure drop;
c. The free gas: representing the connected gas phase.
The foamy oil simulation models present the transformations of these gases as non-equilibrium reactions.
Two reactions are thus defined with their own kinetics (Sun Zheng, 2017; Sunzheng 2018; Sunzheng 2018):
SPE-194628-MS 3

Reaction 1: Solution Gas→Dispersed Gas: X1=F1*[SolG], representing the formation of dispersed

bubbles.
Reaction 2: Dispersed Gas→Free Gas: X2=F2[DispG], representing the growth and fracture of dispersed
bubbles.
Xi:volumetric reaction rate
Fi:frequency factor
[]: concentration
Where, F1 and F2 are the parameters to be defined through history match of foamy oil production.
The utilized grid in this ideal reservoir simulation model is rectangular coordinates, formed for 19840
cells (32 * 31* 20), the average size of which are 50m*10m*1m, in the I J and K direction, respectively.
The initial parameters field of this typical numerical model is shown in table 1.

Table 1—Basic reservoir parameters

Initial reservoir pressure/MPa 8.5

Reservoir temperature /°C 54

Porosity 0.3

Reservoir thickness /m 20

Bubble point pressure/MPa 5.6

Oil viscosity/mPa·s 3200

Permeability I/mD 7800

Permeability K/mD 6700

Oil saturation 0.86

Well spacing/m 300

Formation mechanism of remaining oil

Figure 1 shows the saturation field, pressure field and flow vector during foam oil cold production simulated
by a typical numerical model. It can be seen that the closer to the position above the horizontal wellbore
the crude oil is, the larger size the arrow of crude oil flow vector has, the greater the crude oil flow velocity
is. Moreover, the reservoir pressure gradually decreases and the pressure drawdown distribution is formed
around the wellbore, i.e. the closer to the horizontal wellbore, the lower pressure, and the closer to the top
of the reservoir, the lower pressure, during cold production of foam oil. With the decrease of pressure, the
dissolved gas in the oil phase will gradually be separated. It can be seen from the diagram of saturation field
that an obvious gravity differentiation of oil and gas occurs, and the separated dissolved gas will accumulate
directly above the horizontal wellbore to form a secondary gas cap. As primary depletion development, the
cold production of foam oil has relatively low recovery level, so the areas other than secondary gas cap
area maintain high oil saturation.
4 SPE-194628-MS

Figure 1—Parameters field of foamy oil cold production(X-Z profile)

Figure 2 is a flow vector diagram of crude oil from different positions of the reservoir at one moment
during CHOP process. It can be seen that when the horizontal well is located at the bottom of the reservoir,
the closer to the bottom of the reservoir above the horizontal well, the greater the downward flow velocity of
crude oil; when the horizontal well is located in the middle of the reservoir, the downward flow velocity of
crude oil above the horizontal well decreases, but is greater than the upward flow velocity of crude oil above
the horizontal well; when the horizontal well is located at the upper part of the reservoir, the downward flow
velocity of crude oil above the horizontal well further reduces, and is less than the upward flow velocity
of crude oil below horizontal well.
This is because crude oil undergoes the same driving force and viscous force at production differential
pressure when the horizontal well is located in different positions of the reservoir, but the gravity of crude oil
is proportional to the density and distance of crude oil from the top of the reservoir. The gravity increases the
flow velocity because the crude oil above the horizontal section flows to the wellbore in the same direction
as gravity, while the gravity reduces the flow velocity as a resistance because crude oil below the horizontal
section flows to the wellbore in the opposite direction to the gravity. When the horizontal well is located at
the bottom of the reservoir, the distance between the crude oil above the horizontal well section and the top
of the reservoir reaches a maximum value, so the downward flow velocity of crude oil reaches a maximum
value at this area; when the horizontal well is located in the middle of the reservoir, the distance between
the crude oil above the horizontal well section and the top of the reservoir decreases, so the downward flow
velocity of crude oil in this area decreases accordingly; when the horizontal well is located at the top of the
reservoir, the crude oil above the horizontal well section, the downward flow velocity of crude oil in this
region further reduces with the further decrease of the distance.
To sum up, gravity drainage and gravity differentiation of oil and gas during the cold production with
horizontal wells are the main mechanisms for formation of remaining oil.
SPE-194628-MS 5

Figure 2—Flow vector diagram of crude oil with different well position in the reservoir (X-Z profile)

Main factors influencing formation of remaining oil

Effect of horizontal well spacing on remaining oil distribution. To study the effect of horizontal well
spacing on remaining oil distribution, the foamy extra-heavy oil cold production with horizontal well
spacing of 200m, 300m and 600m were simulated. In these cases, the reservoir thickness is 20m, and the
horizontal section length is 1000m.
The simulation results show that at the end of the cold production period, the smaller the horizontal well
spacing is, the higher the utilization level of reserves of production wells is, the less the remaining oil above
the horizontal wells is, the larger the scope of secondary gas cap at the top of the reservoir is, the less the
remaining oil between wells is (figure 3-figure 4).

Figure 3—The remaining oil distribution under different horizontal well spacing (K=1)

Figure 4—The remaining oil 3D distribution under different horizontal well spacing
6 SPE-194628-MS

Effect of reservoir thickness on remaining oil distribution. In order to study the effect of reservoir
thickness on remaining oil distribution, the foamy extra-heavy oil cold production with reservoir thickness
of 10m, 20m and 30m were simulated. In these cases, the horizontal section length is 1000m, and the
horizontal well spacing is 300m.
The simulation results show that with the increase of the reservoir thickness, the width of the oil drainage
funnel increases, the height decreases, and the remaining oil above the horizontal well section increases at
the end of the cold production period of the foam oil (figure5-figure7).

Figure 5—The remaining oil distribution under different reservoir thickness (K=1)

Figure 6—The remaining oil distribution under different reservoir thickness(X-Z profile)

Figure 7—The remaining oil 3D distribution under different reservoir thickness

Effect of plane heterogeneity on remaining oil distribution. To study the effect of plane heterogeneity
on remaining oil distribution, the foamy extra-heavy oil cold production with reservoir permeability of
2500mD, 5000mD, 7500mD, 10000mD and 12500mD were simulated. In these cases, the horizontal section
length is 1000m; the reservoir thickness is 20m; and the horizontal well spacing is 300m.
SPE-194628-MS 7

The simulation results show that the remaining oil distribution is affected by the plane heterogeneity of
reservoir. The higher the permeability is, the higher the utilization level of reserves is, the less the remaining
oil above the horizontal well section and between the production wells is (figure8-figure11).

Figure 8—Permeability field

Figure 9—Remaining oil distribution(K=1)

Figure 10—The remaining oil distribution(X-Z profile)

Figure 11—The remaining oil 3D distribution

8 SPE-194628-MS

It can be seen from comparison of the development performance of foam oil from different permeability
reservoirs that with the increase of permeability of the reservoir, the cumulative oil production and output
contribution will increase correspondingly, and the performance of cold production increases. Therefore,
for the oil reservoirs with plane heterogeneity, the drilling rate of horizontal wells should be increased to
improve the performance of cold production of foam oil (figure 12).

Figure 12—Performance of cold production for reservoirs with different permeability

Effect of interlayer on remaining oil distribution. (1) Mechanisms of interlayer influencing the remaining
oil distribution
To study the effect of interlayer on remaining oil distribution, the foamy extra-heavy oil cold production
with interlayer in different locations of reservoir were simulated. In these cases, the interlayers having 7.5%
of well control area are located in the bottom part, middle and upper part of the reservoir; the horizontal
section length is 1000m; the reservoir thickness is 20m; and the horizontal well spacing is 300m.
Fig. 13 is a diagram for the oil phase vector during cold production in the presence of interlayer. Due to
the presence of interlayer, the crude oil above basically does not flow, showing that the interlayer shields
the utilization of the reserves above. In addition, the gravity of crude oil beneath the interlayer is related
to the distance between the interlayer and the bottom of the reservoir. When the interlayer is located at the
bottom of the reservoir, the distance between the crude oil beneath the interlayer and the bottom of the
reservoir is the closest, and the gravity drainage effect is weaker; when the interlayer is located in the middle
of the reservoir, the distance between the crude oil beneath the interlayer and the bottom of the reservoir
increases, and the gravity drainage effect increases, thus the oil phase vector at the horizontal section below
the interlayer increases, and the crude oil flows into wellbore more quickly; when the interlayer is located
at the upper part of the reservoir, the distance between crude oil under the interlayer and the bottom of
the reservoir is the greatest, and the gravity drainage effect is the strongest, thus the oil phase vector is the
greatest at the horizontal section below the interlayer, and crude oil flows into the wellbore most quickly.
SPE-194628-MS 9

Figure 13—Flow vector diagram of crude oil with interlayer in different locations of the reservoir (X-Z profile)

(2) Effect of interlayer location on remaining oil distribution

To study the effect of interlayer location on remaining oil distribution, the foamy extra-heavy oil cold
production with interlayer in different locations of reservoir were simulated. In these cases, the interlayers
having 7.5% of well control area are located in the bottom part, middle, upper part and lateral part of the
reservoir; the horizontal section length is 1000m; the reservoir thickness is 20m; and the horizontal well
spacing is 300m.
The simulation results show that at the same interlayer area, the interlayer at the lateral side of the
horizontal well influences the remaining oil distribution during cold production much less than that above
the horizontal well; when the interlayer is located above the horizontal well, the closer to the bottom of the
oil reservoir the interlayer is, the more remaining oil the interlayer shields (figure 14).

Figure 14—Remaining oil distribution with interlayer in different locations of the reservoir
10 SPE-194628-MS

(3) Effect of interlayer area on remaining oil distribution

To study the effect of interlayer area on remaining oil distribution, the foamy extra-heavy oil cold
production with interlayer of different area were simulated. In these cases, the interlayers area are 3.4%,
7.5% and 16% of well control area respectively; the horizontal section length is 1000m; the reservoir
thickness is 20m; and the horizontal well spacing is 300m.
The simulation results show that a remaining oil enrichment zone exists above the interlayer due to the
interlayer shielding, and expands with the increase of interlayer area (figure 15-figure 16).

Figure 15—Remaining oil distribution with different interlayer area (K=1)

Figure 16—Remaining oil distribution with different interlayer area(X-Z profile)

(4) Effect of interlayer frequency on remaining oil distribution

To study the effect of interlayer frequency on remaining oil distribution, the foamy extra-heavy oil cold
production with interlayer of 7.5% of well control area located in the middle part of the reservoir were
simulated. In these cases, the single interlayer, double horizontal interlayer and double vertical interlayer
exist; the horizontal section length is 1000m; the reservoir thickness is 20m; and the horizontal well spacing
is 300m.
The simulation results show that at the same interlayer area, the higher the horizontal interlayer frequency
is, the more the remaining oil above interlayer is; at the same distribution frequency, horizontal interlayer
distribution influences the remaining oil distribution more greatly than vertical interlayer distribution
(Figure 17).
SPE-194628-MS 11

Figure 17—Remaining oil distribution with different interlayer frequence(X-Z profile)

(5) Effect of permeability of interlayer on remaining oil distribution

To study the effect of interlayer permeability on remaining oil distribution, the foamy extra-heavy oil
cold production with interlayer of 7.5% of well control area located in the middle part of the reservoir
were simulated. In these cases, the ratio of interlayer permeability to reservoir permeability is 0.001, 0.005,
0.01 and 0.05 respectively; the horizontal section length is 1000m; the reservoir thickness is 20m; and the
horizontal well spacing is 300m.
The simulation results show that with the increase of permeability of interlayer, the enrichment degree
of remaining oil above the interlayer decreases (figure 18).
12 SPE-194628-MS

Figure 18—Remaining oil distribution with interlayer of different

ratio of interlayer permeability to reservoir permeability(X-Z profile)

(6) Effect of reservoir rhythm on remaining oil distribution

To study the effect of reservoir rhythm on remaining oil distribution, the foamy extra-heavy oil cold
production in the reservoir of positive rhythm, negative rhythm, positive-negative compound rhythm and
negative-positive compound rhythm were simulated. In these cases, the horizontal section length is 1000m;
the reservoir thickness is 20m; and the horizontal well spacing is 300m.
The simulation results show that the reservoir rhythm affects the remaining oil distribution during cold
production of foam oil. Compared with other rhythms, the low permeability zones in the composite negative
and positive rhythm oil reservoirs have remaining oil enrichment zones (figure 19).
SPE-194628-MS 13

Figure 19—Remaining oil distribution in reservoirs of different rhythm(X-Z profile)

Remaining oil distribution characteristics

Simulation Model
A practical cluster scale numerical model was established to study the remaining oil distribution features of
foamy extra-heavy oil cold production. This cluster was extracted from the geological model of the early
production area and contains three-layer series of development: L1, L2, and L3, from top to bottom. In this
model, there exists 12 wells with horizontal well spacing of 600m. The 3 D parameters fields of this model
are shown in figure 20. And this practical cluster scale numerical model was history matched well.

Figure 20—3D parameters field of the practical cluster scale model

14 SPE-194628-MS

Figure 21 is the plane distribution of remaining oil of L2 layer. It can be seen that secondary gas cap
exists above the horizontal section, the oil saturation is low and remaining oil is enriched between horizontal
production wells.
Figure 22 shows the vertical distribution of remaining oil saturation (L2). It can be seen that an interlayer
exists above the horizontal section, and the remaining oil above the interlayer is enriched due to interlayer
shielding.

Figure 21—Plane distribution of remaining oil in L2 layer

Figure 22—Remaining oil distribution in L2 layer

Infill well deployment

Based on above research of remaining oil distribution, the remaining oil was enriched in the area between
two adjacent horizontal wells. So the effective measure is to drill infilling wells to exploit the enriched
remaining oil and to improve the oil recovery factor of cold production. The sketch diagram of infilling
well deployment is shown in figure 23.
SPE-194628-MS 15

Figure 23—sketch diagram of infilling well deployment

The above practical model of cluster scale was used in this part, and the 12 infilling wells put into
production in different infilling time were simulated. The simulated infilling time are 0 year, 1 year, 2 years,
3 years, 4 years and 5 years respectively after the cluster being put into production.

Figure 24—Cold production performance with different infilling time

Figure 24 shows the oil recovery factor of different infilling time. If the infilling wells are put into
production early, the oil recovery factor will be high. So the infilling wells should be drilled as soon as
possible.
The performance of cold production with well infilling is shown in figure 25. It can be seen that,
because of the well infilling, the performance and oil recovery factor of foamy extra-heavy oil are improved
obviously.
16 SPE-194628-MS

Figure 25—Performance of cold production with well infilling

Conclusion
1. Gravity drainage and gravity differentiation of oil and gas during the cold production of foamy extra-
heavy oil with horizontal wells are the main mechanisms for formation of remaining oil.
2. The influence factors of remaining oil distribution include horizontal well spacing, reservoir thickness,
reservoir heterogeneity, interlayer distribution and reservoir rhythm.
3. For foamy extra-heavy oil CHOP process, the enriched remaining oil area is the place between two
adjacent horizontal wells with well spacing of 600m.
4. Well infilling is an effective measure improving oil recovery factor of cold production.

Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the China National Key Project of 2016ZX05031-001.

Reference
Balke, S. et al.2002. Real Time, Real Fast: Drilling Horizontal Wells in a Heavy Oil Environment. SPE 78954.
D.W. Boardman, L.B. Zerpa. [2001] Horizontal water producers increase heavy oil recovery factors. SPE 69560.
John L. Stalder, Gregory D. York, Robert J. Kopper et al. [2001] Multilateral-horizontal wells increase rate and lower cost
per barrel in the Zuata field, Faja, Venezuela. SPE 69700.
Kumar, R., and Pooladi-Darvish, M.. [2002] Solution-gas drive in heavy oil: field prediction and sensitivity studies using
low gas relative permeability. J. Can Pet. Technol. 41:26–32.
Larry J. Gipson, Rex Owen, Carlon R. Robertson. 2002. Hamaca heavy oil project-lessons learned and an evolving
development strategy.SPE 78990.
M.de Mirabai, H. Rodriguez, R. Gordillo.1997. Production improvement strategy for foamy Hamaca crude oil: a field
case.SPE 37544.
M. Blanco, T. Rodriguez, J. Crespo et al. 2001.Optimal exploitation scheme in MFB-5 reservoir.SPE 69851.
Mu Longxin, Xu Baojun, Zhang Shancheng et al. [2008] Integrated 3D geology modeling constrained by facies and
horizontal well data for block M of the Orinoco heavy oil belt. SPE 117468.
UDDIN, M.,2005. "Numerical Studies of Gas Exsolution in a Live Heavy-Oil Reservoir", Paper SPE/PS-CIM/CHOA
97739, SPE International Thermal Operations andHeavy Oil Symposium, Calgary, Alberta, 1-3 November, 2005.
Stalder, J. et al. 2001.Multilateral-Horizontal Wells Increase Rate and Lower Cost Per Barrel in the Zuata Field, Faja,
Venezuela.SPE 69700.
Sun Zheng, Shi Juntai, Wu Keliu, Xu Bingxiang, Zhang Tao, Chang Yucui, Li Xiangfang (2018). Transport capacity of
gas confined in nanoporous ultra-tight gas reservoirs with real gas effect and water storage mechanisms coupling.
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 126, 1007–1018.
Sun Zheng, Li Xiangfang, Shi Juntai, Zhang Tao, Sun Fengrui (2017). Apparent permeability model for real gas transport
through shale gas reservoirs considering water distribution characteristic. International Journal of Heat and Mass
Transfer, 115, 1008–1019.
SPE-194628-MS 17

Sun Zheng, Shi Juntai, Wu Keliu, Li Xiangfang (2018). Gas Flow Behavior through Inorganic Nanopores in Shale
Considering Confinement Effect and Moisture Content. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 57, 3430–3440.
Sheng, J.J., Maini, B.B., Hayes, R.E. et al. [1999] Critical Review of Foamy Oil Flow. Transport in Porous Media. 35:
157–187.
Y.M. Bayon, Ph.R. Cordelier,2002. A New Methodology to Match Heavy-Oil Long-Core Primary Depletion Experiments.
SPE 75133.
Zhao, H. L., Chang, Y.W., Guo, X.F.. [2016] Foamy Oil Properties and Reservoir Performance. Petroleum Science and
Technology.34:16,1511–1519.