DEVELOPMENT OF A MODIFIED STEAM DRIVE PROCESS FOR RECOVERING HEAVY OILS AND BITUMENS-

THIS PROJECT IS TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF INCREASING THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY EFFICIENCY OF HEAVY CRUDE OILS AND BITUMENS BY USING INTERMITTENT INJECTION OF STEAM, HIGH-VELOCITY, NON-CONDENSIBLE GAS, EMULSI- FIERS, AND CYCLICAL RESERVOIR DEPRESSURIZATION. THIS PROCESS WAS CONCEIVED AFTER STUDIES THAT SIMULTANEOUSLY LED TO AN UNDERSTANDING OF WHY THE EFFICIENCY OF THE CONVENTIONAL STEAM DRIVE DECREASED RAPIDLY WITH HIGHLY VISCOUS CRUDES AND BITUMENS AND TO THE HYPOTHESIS THAT THE STEAM DRIVE COMPRISES TWO CONTROLLING STEPS: RESERVOIR HEATING AND A HIGH-VELOCITY GAS DRIVE. THIS HYPOTHESIS WAS VALIDATED BY A RECENTLY COMPLETED LABORATORY STUDY. THIS APPLICATION FOR A UNITED STATES PATENT THAT PROTECTS THE BASIC INVENTION HAS NOW BEEN ALLOWED AND WILL SOON BE ISSUED. PHASE I WILL USE (NONSCALED) LABORATORY BENCH EXPERIMENTS TO CONFIRM THAT THE PROCESS IS SUBSTANTIALLY BETTER THAN STEAM ALONE FOR HEAVY OILS AND BITUMENS. BECAUSE OF EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE WITH THIS LABORATORY TEST, IT WILL BE POSSIBLE TO QUALITATIVELY RATE THE EFFICIENCY OF THE NEW PROCESS. QUANTITATIVE CONFIRMATION OF THE PROCESS WILL DEPEND UPON THE COMPLETION OF PHYSICALLY SCALED MODELS (PHASE II) THAT CAN PROVIDE RELIABLE RESULTS TO JUSTIFY DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS IN THE FIELD.