Heavy Oil Flashcards
A calcium soap of naphthenic acids in crude oil
Calcium naphthenate
A condition in which clays, polymers or other small charged particles become attached and form a fragile structure, a floc
Flocculation
A designation for a hydrocarbon fluid with a gravity of 10° API or lower, based upon the classification of the US Department of Energy
Bitumen/ ultra heavy oil
A dispersion of droplets of one liquid in another liquid with which it is incompletely miscible
Emulsion
A dispersion of one immiscible liquid into another through the use of a chemical that reduces the interfacial tension between the two liquids to achieve stability
Emulsion
A general term for injection processes that introduce heat into a reservoir
Thermal recovery/ TEOR
A general term for injection processes that use special chemical solutions to improve oil recovery, remove formation damage, clean blocked perforations or formation layers, reduce or inhibit corrosion, upgrade crude oil, or address crude oil flow-assurance issues
Chemical injection
A high-porosity, high-permeability channel that develops when heavy oil is produced simultaneously with sand (during cold heavy oil production with sand, or CHOPS)
Wormhole
A hydrocarbon fluid that is used to dilute heavy oil and reduce its viscosity for easier transportation
Diluent
A large, empty channel that can penetrate several feet into the formation, caused by the nonuniform dissolution of limestone or dolomite by hydrochloric acid
Wormhole
A method for characterization of heavy oils based on fractionation, whereby a heavy oil sample is separated into smaller quantities or fractions, with each fraction having a different composition
SARA analysis
A method of thermal recovery in which a flame front is generated in the reservoir by igniting a fire at the sandface of an injection well
Fire flooding/ in situ combustion
A method of thermal recovery in which a well is injected with steam and then subsequently put back on production
Cyclic steam injection/ stimulation/ huff and puff
A method of thermal recovery in which fire is generated inside the reservoir by injecting a gas containing oxygen, such as air
In situ combustion/ fire flooding
A method of thermal recovery in which hot water is injected into a reservoir through specially distributed injection wells
Hot water flooding
A method of thermal recovery in which steam generated at surface is injected into the reservoir through specially distributed injection wells
Steam flood
A mixture of crude oils, blended in the pipeline to create a crude with specific physical properties
Blended crude
A non-thermal heavy oil production method. Similar in concept to SAGD, in this method a solvent vapor is used to reduce viscosity of the heavy oil
Vapor extraction/ vapex
A non-thermal primary process for producing heavy oil, also called CHOPS. In this method, continuous production of sand improves the recovery of heavy oil from the reservoir
Cold heavy oil production with sand
A phenomenon encountered during dry forward combustion in which an oil zone around the production well cannot be pushed forward by the heated oil. The fluid located in this zone is still at the original reservoir temperature. Therefore, the fluid is still highly viscous and normally not mobile
Liquid blocking
A porous sand layer or sand body filled with oil
Oil sand
A refinery unit used to improve or upgrade heavy oil to produce higher-quality hydrocarbon liquids or upgraded synthetic crudes
Upgrader
A sand body that contains heavy hydrocarbon residues such as tar or asphalt, or degraded oil that has lost its volatile components
Tar sand
A series of multilateral well segments that trunk off a main horizontal well
Fishbone wells
A specific gravity scale developed by the American Petroleum Institute (API) for measuring the relative density of various petroleum liquids, expressed in degrees
API gravity
A thermal production method for heavy oil that pairs a high-angle injection well with a nearby production well drilled along a parallel trajectory
SAGD (steam assisted gravity drainage)
A two-phase mixture of liquid water and steam produced from a generator
Steam
A type of damage in which there is a combination of two or more immiscible fluids, including gas, that will not separate into individual components
Emulsion
A type of in situ combustion in which the burning front moves in the same direction as the injected air
Dry forward combustion
A type of in-situ combustion in which the burning front moves in an opposite direction to the injected air
Reverse combustion
Abbreviation for thermal enhanced oil recovery, also known as thermal recovery, a general term for injection processes that introduce heat into areservoir
TEOR
An artificial-lift system that utilizes a downhole pumping system that is electrically driven
ESP
An electric downhole pump used in heavy oil production that is designed with vane and fin configurations to accommodate frictional losses and pump efficiencies caused by heavy oil viscosity
ESP
An enhanced oil recovery method in which carbon dioxide (CO2) is injected into a reservoir to increase production by reducing oil viscosity and providing miscible or partially miscible displacement of the oil
CO2 injection
An enhanced oilrecoveryprocess whereby water injection andgas injectionare carried out alternately for periods of time to provide bettersweep efficiencyand reduce gas channeling from injector to producer
WAG (water alternating gas)
An in situ combustion technique in which only air or oxygen-enriched air mixtures are injected into a formation
Dry combustion
An in situ combustion technique in which water is injected simultaneously or alternately with air into a formation
Wet combustion/ COFCAW
An injection pattern in which four input or injection wells are located at the corners of a square and the production well sits in the center
Five spot
An injection pattern in which four production wells are located at the corners of a square and the injector well sits in the center
Inverted five spot
An in-situ combustion method for producing heavy oil. In this technique, the fireflooding starts from a vertical well, while the oil is produced from a horizontal well having its toe in close proximity to the vertical air-injection well
Toe to heel air injection (THAI)
An oil-continuous foam that contains dispersed gas bubbles produced at the wellhead from heavy oil reservoirs under solution gas drive
Foamy oil
Another term for soak phase, in cyclic steam injection, the second phase between the steam-injection phase and the production phase
Steam soak
Any of a variety of analytical techniques carried out to determine the composition of a crude oil by breaking it down into basic chemical components
Compositional fluid analysis
Beter known as cyclic steam injection, or CSS stands for
Cyclic steam stimulation
CHOPS stand for
Cold heavy oil production with sand
COFCAW stands for
Combination of forward combustion and waterflooding
Crude oil with high viscosity (typically above 10 cp), and high specific gravity
Heavy oil/ viscous oil
Downhole measurement of fluid viscosity, typically performed either with logging tools based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) or with sampling tools such as formation testers
In situ viscosity evaluation
Equipment or systems used for completion of wells in thermal production of heavy oil
High temperature completion
In cyclic steam injection, the second phase between the steam-injection phase and the production phase
Soak phase
In the context of heavy oil, it is a porous rock layer, often considered to be a mixture of sand, clay, water, and bitumen
Oil sand
Naturally-occurring, inflammable organic matter formed from kerogen in the process of petroleum generation that is soluble in carbon bisulfide
Bitumen
Nonthermal primary methods of heavy oil production, which include technologies such as production with horizontal wells, multilaterals, CHOPS, water or gas injection
Cold production
One of the four main components of petroleum, along with asphaltenes, aromatics and saturates (which include waxes)
Resin
Organic material having low solubility. They are usually large and complex polymeric molecules with noncrystalline structure and no distinct melting point or other definitive properties
Resin
Parameter used to monitor the efficiency of oil production processes based on steam injection
Steam oil ratio
Slang term for a cyclic process in which a well is injected with a recovery enhancement fluid and, after a soak period, the well is put back on production
Huff and puff
THAI stands for
Toe to heel air injection
The aggregation of small particles into larger particles
Flocculation
The breakdown of medium-weight crude oil by microbial organisms into heavy and light components
Biodegradation
The finite-difference or finite-element reservoir simulation that includes energy equations and calculations used to describe heat conduction, heat and fluid convection, and latent heat exchanges occurring in the reservoir rock and fluids during a thermal recovery process
Thermal simulation
The fraction of naturally occurring, inflammable organic matter that is extractable from rock using organic solvents
Bitumen
The lowest temperature (in °F or °C) at which a liquid remains pourable (meaning it still behaves as a fluid)
Pour point
The overall heat and fuel management for a steam injection process
Steam management
The process by which complex molecules are broken down by micro-organisms to produce simpler compounds
Biodegradation
The process of generating two or more forms of energy from a single energy source
Cogeneration
The process of splitting a large heavy hydrocarbon molecule into smaller, lighter components
Cracking
The temperature at which a fluid ceases to pour
Pour point
The temperature at which a solution of a surfactant or glycol starts to form micelles (molecular agglomerates), thus becoming cloudy
Cloud point
The temperature at which wax crystals first start to form in a crude oil
Cloud point
The term used to describe what clays, polymers or other small charged particles do when they become attached and form a fragile structure, afloc
Flocculate
The term used to describe what small particles do when they aggregate into larger particles
Flocculate
The volume of reservoir in which mobile steam exists for an extended period of time
Steam chamber
