56 284 1 PB

BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM AND GAS
ISSN 1982-0593
FATEMI, S. M.; KHARRAT, R. FEASIBILITY STUDY OF TOP-DOWN IN-SITU COMBUSTION IN FRACTURED CARBONATE SYSTEMS. Brazilian Journal of Petroleum and Gas.
v. 2, n. 3, p. 96-105, 2008.
FEASIBILITY STUDY OF TOP-DOWN IN-SITU COMBUSTION IN

FRACTURED CARBONATE SYSTEMS
1
1
2
S. M. Fatemi*, 2R. Kharrat
Sharif University of Technology, Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering

Petroleum University of Technology, Petroleum Research Center
* To whom all correspondence should be addressed.

Address: Sharif University of Technology, Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering,
Tehran, Iran
Telephone / fax numbers: + 98 915 1609612
E-mail: mobeen.fatemi@gmail.com
Abstract. The In-Situ Combustion (ISC) process has been studied deeply in heavy oils
and is found as a promising EOR method for certain conventional sandstone reservoirs,
but its application feasibility in carbonate fractured systems remains questionable. In
this contribution, firstly a model which is developed for simulation study of one of
fractured carbonate, low-permeable reservoirs in Iran called Kuh-E-Mond (KEM) has
been presented. The aim of this work was to dissect the effect of geometrical properties
of the fractures, such as orientation, density, spacing, location and networking, on the
performance of combustion tube experiments. Results indicate that the simulator can
match the laboratory data. Lower vertical fracture spacing in conjunction with their
higher fracture density enhanced the recovery performance. Because of the top-down
mechanism of the process in the case of combustion tube, horizontal fractures had
disastrous effects on the final achievement. Vertical fractures in networked model
improved the performance of horizontal fractures alone. Simulation analysis confirmed
that ISC will be more applicable in the case of highly networked fractured reservoirs
such as those in Middle East.
Keywords: in-situ combustion; combustion tube; carbonate fractured reservoir;
IOR/EOR
1. INTRODUCTION
For the production of oil from heavy oil
reservoirs, thermal methods are widely applied.
One of these is the in-situ combustion (ISC)
process. In this process air is injected into the
reservoir and the oxygen in the air burns part of
the oil, thereby generating heat, which reduces
the oil viscosity and enhances oil recovery.
According to Akkutlu and Yortsus (2005),
combustion front propagation is enhanced in
the case of heterogeneity when the more
permeable layer is of smaller thickness.
However, its temperature drops significantly
with the increasing heterogeneity ratio, smaller
thickness ratio, and increasing heat loss rates.
Below a certain limit, it is questionable that a
proper combustion reaction can be sustained in
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the high-permeable layer (for example, in the

case of fractures).
In some ISC field trials, the combustion
process could not be sustained if there were
fractures in the reservoir (Schulte and Vries,
1982). Since fractures are much more
permeable than the surrounding reservoir rocks
the injected air will flow almost exclusively
through the fractures and will contact only oil
present in these fractures or in their immediate
vicinity. In this case, not only the reaction rate
is too low because of the very small contact
area between air flow and fracture walls, but
also the total amount of fuel available for
combustion might be insufficient to sustain the
combustion process. According to Schulte and
Vries (1982) if only the low reaction rate is
responsible for the dying out of the combustion
96

v. 2, n. 3, p. 96-105, 2008.
process, it is easily estimated that, in densely

fractured reservoirs such as those occurring in
Iran and Middle East, the contact area between
air flow and fracture walls might be sufficiently
large to sustain combustion, assuming that
sufficient fuel is available. The main purpose of
this paper is therefore to simulate a combustion
tube experiment in the presence of fissures to
study the feasibility of ISC for fractured
reservoirs.
2. METHODOLOGY
2.1. Conventional Model Representation
In the numerical simulation of combustion
tubes based on experimental data presented by
Seraji (2006) and Seraji et al. (2007), with a
vertical matrix block consisting of 20 grid
blocks (center of grids are located on the
thermocouple locations in the experiment)
along the z direction, one grid block in the x
and y directions is considered. The total matrix
block length (combustion tube in the
experiment) is 1 m (3.28 ft) and its sizes in the
x and y directions are 0.3278 ft (Figure 1). One
additional run is performed with refined grids
to study the front shape. Initial conditions and
the KEM carbonate rock properties are
represented in Table 1.
In this model the following six components
and pseudocomponents were introduced in the
Computer Modeling Group (CMG), Builder
module: water, heavy oil, light oil, inert gas,
oxygen and coke. All non-condensable gases
such as CO2, CO and N2 were lumped to a
single inert gas to minimize the number of
equations to be solved. To save CPU run time,
flashed composition of the KEM crude oil used
Parameter
Figure 1. Schematic representation of conventional

combustion tube model in simulation analysis.
in the experiment (Table 2) has been lumped

into two groups known as light oil (C1-C11)
and heavy oil (C12+).
Critical properties of each pseudocomponent
have been obtained according to Hong mixing
rules (Ahmed, 1989). The viscosity data of the
oil sample as a function of temperature used to
fit the correlation for Light Oil (LO) and Heavy
Oil (HO) fraction. In the simulation this
viscosity will be applied for the components of
both light and heavy oils. Gas phase viscosity
correlation parameters of oil pseudocomponents are shown in Table 3. The
equilibrium ratios (K values) have been
obtained from Wilson correlations (Danesh,
Table 1. Initial conditions of matrix block in simulation.

Value
Parameter
Value
Pressure / psi
320
Water Saturation
nil
Temperature / F
160
Injection Rate
4.8 L/min
Porosity
0.414
Matrix Permeability / md
12700
Oil Saturation
0.4
Gas Saturation
0.6
Rock Thermal Conductivity

Rock Compressibility
Rock Thermal Expansion Coefficient
Rock Heat Capacity
2.5 Btu/(fthF)
-6
10 sip
-5
410 F
-1
35.4 Btu/(ft F)
97

v. 2, n. 3, p. 96-105, 2008.
Table 2. Sarvak oil sample flash composition.

Component
Percentage
Component
Percentage
C1
0.00
C6
2.85
C2
0.12
C7
2.33
C3
0.42
C8
2.83
iC4
1.53
C9
2.60
nC4
3.76
C10
3.81
iC5
3.95
C11
3.07
nC5
2.31
C12+
70.42
*C12+ Molecular Weight: 485; C12+ Specific Gravity: 1.0473

Table 3. Gas phase viscosity of oil pseudocomponents in simulation.
B
Gas-Phase Viscosity = AT
Light Oil
Heavy Oil
-11
1.07162354410
1.95481837910
1998) for each light and heavy oil components.

According to Danesh (1998), the K values are
determined as the ratio between the mole
fraction of component i in the vapour phase
and the mole fraction of the same component in
liquid phase.
-11
1.07162354410
1.95481837910
2.2. Simulation Model Validation by

Experiment
The system average temperature, the front
propagation rate and the total experiment time
had been chosen to match the experimental data
published by Seraji (2006) and Seraji et al.
(2007). Figure 2 shows average system
Figure 2. Comparison between experimental and simulation reservoir average temperature.
98

v. 2, n. 3, p. 96-105, 2008.
Table 4. Comparison between experimental and simulation results.

Matching Parameter
Experimental Results
Simulation Results
Front Propagation Rate
0.42 ft/hr
0.42 ft/hr
Total Process Time
7.88 hr
7.92 hr
Front Average Temp.
587C
1090F (587.77C)
Front Location at end
2.25 ft
2.3 ft
Production Well Temperature at end
285C
550F (287.77C)
temperatures, for both experimental and

simulation up to 4 hours. Other parameters
have been compared in Table 4. The simulation
results are in fair match with experimental data.
Figure 3. Schematic representation of fractured

combustion tube (base model).
2.3. Fractured Model Representation

The fractured combustion tube simulation
model used in this work consists of two vertical
fractures induced at the lateral sides of the
previous
conventional
non-fractured
combustion tube model section, and is depicted
in Figure 3. There are three grid blocks in the x
direction, one grid block in y and 20 grids in
the z direction. The first and third grid columns
in the x direction are simulated fractures and
the second ones are matrices. Each fracture has
a 0.0033-ft width. Fissures have been
illustrated by vertical red stripes at either side
of the model in Figure 3. Relative
permeabilities of the fractures are assumed to
be linear, as compared with saturations reported
in the literature (Van Golf-Rakht, 1982). To
study the effect of geometrical properties of
fractures on the ISC process performance, other
fissured models have also been developed and
are depicted in Figure 4. Patterns A and B are
conventional and fractured base models
respectively.
During the simulation the first grid block
was continuously preheated up to ignition
temperature for 0.5 hr, after which the heater
was switched off. During the process, air is
Figure 4. Conventional model and different fractured models.
99

v. 2, n. 3, p. 96-105, 2008.
elevated temperatures from the start. Ignition

immediately occurs in fractures and the front
propagates towards the production well. Heat
generated by the fractures oil ignition is
conducted to the matrix and combustion takes
place in the matrix blocks. The first trials were
to ignite oil by the same air injection rate, as
reported by Seraji (2006) and Seraji et al.
(2007) in their conventional combustion tube
experiments (4.8 L/min). At this rate of
injection, the combustion front could not be
sustainable neither in the fracture nor in the
matrix and the combustion was extinguished
after a short period of time. Therefore, the
injection rate was reduced to 2.4 L/min.
Combustion started and propagated steadily
towards the producing well.
Figure 5. Oxygen saturation profiles in

conventional (left) and fractured (right) models.
injected into the fractures (no air is injected

into the matrix; there are two injectors, one in
each fracture) to simulate the flow of air in the
fracture system. The fractured model contains
the same amount of fluids as the conventional
one. Besides, it is assumed that, for initial
conditions, the fractures are fully saturated with
oil. It was found that the combustion process
would not start without the inflow face being at
2.4. Comparison of Fractured and

Conventional Models
Oxygen diffusion causes some kind of coneshaped combustion front. This is represented by
the concave-shaped profile in the fractured
model, as compared with the convex-shaped
profile in the conventional model (Figure 5).
The higher rate of the front propagation in the
fracture, as opposed to that in the matrix,
causes the matrix to be preheated forward of its
own combustion front. This preheating reduces
oil viscosity and oil is transferred to the lower
parts because of gravity drainage. As a result,
low amount of oil will be present in the face
contacting the matrix combustion front and
thereby less coke will be generated.
Figure 6. Effect of vertical fractures on ISC process performance.
100

v. 2, n. 3, p. 96-105, 2008.
Figure 7. Effect of vertical fractures spacing on oil recovery.
Lower coke deposition means lower front

temperature. This reduces the average
temperature and causes lower coke deposition.
As a result, lower ultimate oil recovery would
be achievable in the fractured model (Figure 6).
In the KEM fractured model, the rate of front
advance in the matrix is not so delayed with
respect to the conventional model. This may
have occurred due to the preheating of the
matrix rock forward of its front by the fracture
front, and also because of the higher thermal
conductivity of carbonated rock (2.5 Btu/ft-hrF), as compare to the sand case (1 Btu/ft-hr-F,
according to Tabasinejad et al., 2006).
2.5. Effect of Vertical Fractures Spacing
Fracture spacing is really important in
failure or success of ISC for fractured model.
Additional runs with the same fracture opening

size and same total amount of oil in the system
has been done, with different fracture spacings,
namely 0.2412, 0.3412 (base case) and 0.4412
ft (Figure 4, Patterns C, B and D respectively).
In the case of lower fracture spacing, average
temperature and oil recovery would be higher
(Figure 7).
Higher fracture spacing causes more
extended cone-shaped patterns and steady state
conditions under which the delay of the coneshaped front diminishes. In both cases, less
opportunity is given for oxygen to diffuse into
the matrix for higher fracture spacing and as a
result the oil recovery is reduced and lower
system temperature is attained.
Figure 8. Effect of horizontal on ISC process performance.
101

v. 2, n. 3, p. 96-105, 2008.
Figure 9. Effect of horizontal fracture location on ISC performance.
2.6. Effect of Horizontal Fractures

Patterns A and E (Figure 4) have been
compared to study the effect of horizontal
fractures on the ISC process efficiency.
Simulation results showed that the top-down
combustion performance decreased in the case
of one horizontal fracture (Figure 8). This can
be due to the difficulty of oxygen diffusion in
this case from the matrix into the fracture and
vice versa, which reduces the ISC performance.
2.7. Effect of Horizontal Fracture Location
Patterns E, F and G (Figure 4) were used to
elucidate the effect of horizontal fracture
location on the process performance. As is
obvious from Figure 9, oil recovery increases
when the horizontal fracture is located next to
the producer. This can be explained by the fact

that the higher volume of the combustion tube
could be swept in this case since the fracture is
located at the end of the combustion tube, as
compared to the other two cases. This fact will
impair the diffusion mechanism based in the
fracture model and as a result the ISC
performance increases.
2.8. Effect of Horizontal Fracture Density
Patterns E, H and I (Figure 4) have been
used in this study. Simulation results confirmed
that the higher horizontal fracture density
enhances the process performance. This may be
partially due to higher contact area of oxygen
with the fracture system. From another point of
view the volume of the matrices that should be
affected by oxygen have been reduced and
Figure 10. Effect of horizontal fracture density on ISC performance.
102

v. 2, n. 3, p. 96-105, 2008.
Figure 11 of horizontal fracture spacing on ISC performance.
oxygen finds its path into the following highly

permeable media of the next fracture due to the
low pressure of the production well. These
combined processes enhance the ISC process
performance (Figure 10).
2.9. Effect of Horizontal Fractures Spacing
Patterns H and J (Figure 4) have been
compared in this case. Figure 11 confirms that
lower fracture spacing has the higher ultimate
oil recovery. This can be displayed by the fact
that lower fracture spacing means higher
fracture density if the fracture system is
uniform, so the ultimate oil recovery is
enhanced just as much as in the previous
section. In fact, some authors (Fatemi et al.,
2008) believe that there is a higher horizontal

fracture density limit for this behavior, which
decreases after the ultimate oil recovery is
achieved.
2.10. Effect Networked Fractured
To study the effect of horizontal and vertical
fractures simultaneously on ISC performance in
naturally fractured reservoirs (NFR), networked
fracture should be developed on the model.
There are two well-known models to simulate
networked fractures, the Warren and Root
Model (1963) and the De-Swaan-O Model
(1976). In the first one the fractures form a
continuous and uniform network oriented in
such a way as to be parallel to the principal
Figure 12. Effect of vertical fractures on ISC process performance.
103

v. 2, n. 3, p. 96-105, 2008.
direction permeability. The fractures are

assumed to be of constant width. In the case of
anisotropic network or a variation in a given
direction, the anisotropy must be simulated.
The fracture spacing associated to fracture
density is directly related to the fracture
permeability and porosity. In the De Swaan-O
model, instead of matrix blocks shaped as
parallelepipeds, the block units are shaped as
spheres. The spheres are superimposed in a
regular orthogonal distribution. The fracture
volume is represented by the spherical
interspace which is further correlated with
porosity values. In this paper, the Warren-Root
model has been used.
Patterns B, H and K (Figure 4) have been
compared for this purpose. Vertical fractures
really improved the performance of the process,
and higher oil recoveries were obtained. As a
matter of fact oxygen has the ability to diffuse
from each matrix from all sides, which
improves oxygen availability in the matrix. In
addition to this, there is a higher fracturematrix contact area in the latter case which
enhances the combustion process by providing
more coke to be burnt at the fracture face. This
kind of ignition will preheat the matrix block
ahead and improve the process performance
further (Figure 12).
3. CONCLUSIONS
The simulator presented here has the ability
to fairly match the combustion tube experiment
of KEM crushed rock samples from the Middle
East. In-Situ Combustion has been studied in
fractured modes and the effects of geometrical
properties of the fractures have been
investigated. The recovery mechanism is
somewhat different in fractured and
conventional cases, since the recovery is based
on oxygen molecular diffusion from fissures
into the matrix or vice-versa in the first case.
Although the horizontal fractures have
disastrous effect on the performance, their
higher density increases the ultimate oil
recovery achievable. The same is true in the
case of vertical fractures. In networked
fractures, the pattern recovery was considerably
higher than in the case of unaccompanied
104
horizontal fractures, acknowledging the

presence of vertical fractures. Simulation
results confirm that the ISC is more applicable
in densely networked fractures carbonate heavy
oil reservoirs such as those occurring in Iran
and Middle East.
CONVERSION FACTORS
1 ft = 0.3048 m
1 psi = 6894.76 Pascal
1 (Fahrenheit) = 1.8 (Celsius)
1 Btu = 1055.056 joule
F = 1.8C+ 32
1 Darcy = 10-12 m2
REFERENCES
AHMED, T. Hydrocarbon Phase Behavior,
Houston: Gulf Publication Company, 1989.
424p.
AKKUTLU, I.Y. and YORTSUS, Y.C. The
Effect of Heterogeneity on In Situ
Combustion: Propagation of combustion
Fronts in Layered Porous Media, SPE Paper
75128, presented at the 2002 SPE/DOE
Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery,
Tulsa, USA, June 2005.
DANESH, A. PVT and Phase Behavior of
Petroleum Reservoir Fluids, Netherlands:
Elsevier Science, 1998, 400p.
FATEMI, S.M.; KHARRAT, R. and
VOSSOUGHI, S. Feasibility Study of InSitu Combustion (ISC) in a 2-D LaboratoryScale Fractured System Using a Thermal
Reservoir Simulator, presented at 2nd World
Heavy Oil Congress (WHOC NO: 2008449), Edmonton, Canada, 2008.
SAIDI, A.M. Reservoir Engineering of
Fractured Reservoirs (Fundamental and
Practical aspects), Paris: TOTAL Edition
Press, 1987, 864p.
SERAJI, S. Feasibility Study of In-Situ
Combustion Process for Carbonated Heavy
Oil Reservoirs, MSc. Thesis, Department of
Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Sharif
University of Technology, autumn 2006. (in
Persian)
SERAJI, S.; KHARRAT, R.; RAZZAGHI, S.
and TAGHIKHANI, V. Kinetic Study of

v. 2, n. 3, p. 96-105, 2008.
Crude Oil Combustion in the Presence of

Carbonate Rock, SPE Paper 105112,
Presented in 15th SPE Middle East Oil &
Gas Show and conference, Bahrain, March
2007.
SCHULTE, W.M and VRIES, A.S. In-Situ
Combustion in Naturally Fractured Heavy
Oil Reservoirs, SPE Paper 10723, presented
at SPE Enhanced Oil Recovery Symposium,
Tulsa, USA, April 1982.
TABASINEJAD, F.; KHARRAT, R. and
VOSSOUGHI, S. Feasibility Study of in-
Situ Combustion in Naturally Fractured

Heavy Oil Reservoirs, SPE Paper 103969,
presented at the First International Oil
Conference and Exhibition, Cancun,
Mexico, September 2006.
VAN GOLF-RAKHT, T.D. Fundamentals of
Fractured
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Engineering,
Netherlands: Elsevier Scientific Publication
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of Naturally Fractured Reservoirs, SPE
Journal, September, p. 245-55., 1963.
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BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM AND GAS

FEASIBILITY STUDY OF TOP-DOWN IN-SITU COMBUSTION IN

S. M. Fatemi*, 2R. Kharrat

Sharif University of Technology, Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering

* To whom all correspondence should be addressed.

Downloaded from World Wide Web http://www.portalabpg.org.br/bjpg

the high-permeable layer (for example, in the

BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM AND GAS

process, it is easily estimated that, in densely

Figure 1. Schematic representation of conventional

in the experiment (Table 2) has been lumped

Table 1. Initial conditions of matrix block in simulation.

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Rock Thermal Conductivity

BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM AND GAS

Table 2. Sarvak oil sample flash composition.

*C12+ Molecular Weight: 485; C12+ Specific Gravity: 1.0473

1998) for each light and heavy oil components.

2.2. Simulation Model Validation by

Figure 2. Comparison between experimental and simulation reservoir average temperature.

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BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM AND GAS

Table 4. Comparison between experimental and simulation results.

Total Process Time

Front Average Temp.

Front Location at end

Production Well Temperature at end

temperatures, for both experimental and

Figure 3. Schematic representation of fractured

2.3. Fractured Model Representation

Figure 4. Conventional model and different fractured models.

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BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM AND GAS

elevated temperatures from the start. Ignition

Figure 5. Oxygen saturation profiles in

injected into the fractures (no air is injected

2.4. Comparison of Fractured and

Figure 6. Effect of vertical fractures on ISC process performance.

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BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM AND GAS

Figure 7. Effect of vertical fractures spacing on oil recovery.

Lower coke deposition means lower front

Additional runs with the same fracture opening

Figure 8. Effect of horizontal on ISC process performance.

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BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM AND GAS

Figure 9. Effect of horizontal fracture location on ISC performance.

2.6. Effect of Horizontal Fractures

the producer. This can be explained by the fact

Figure 10. Effect of horizontal fracture density on ISC performance.

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BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM AND GAS

Figure 11 of horizontal fracture spacing on ISC performance.

oxygen finds its path into the following highly

2008) believe that there is a higher horizontal

Figure 12. Effect of vertical fractures on ISC process performance.

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BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM AND GAS

direction permeability. The fractures are

horizontal fractures, acknowledging the

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BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM AND GAS

Crude Oil Combustion in the Presence of