Different enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods are implemented during the entire period of an oil field operation in order to increase the economic efficiency of the hydrocarbon development, reduce direct investments and provide optimal conditions for the capital reinvestment. Currently the development and industrial application of EOR methods are the essential direction to increase the oil recovery factor. Today all known EOR methods are divided into: thermal, physical-chemical, gas, microbiological, and combined.
Currently thermal EOR methods are one of the most widely used. More often thermal EOR methods are implemented for high viscosity oilfield. Among thermal EOR steam EOR methods have a greater number of implemented projects compared to others. There are several types of the steam EOR methods such as: continuous steam injection, cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) and steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD). During the implementation of thermal EOR methods using steam flooding, one of the most important processes is the steam generation process. The equipment for steam generation at a high viscosity oil field consists of a steam generator, surface pipelines (pipelines, thermal strain compensators), wellhead and downhole equipment. Steam generator is the major part of the technological scheme to produce steam at required parameters. Steam generation is performed due to combustion of the fuel in the combustion chamber. Usually liquid or gaseous hydrocarbon fuels are used in the steam generation process. The fuel cost for the steam generation very often becomes a significant part of the EOR project economics as in case of the Boca de Jaruco field, the Republic of Cuba. Cyclic Steam Stimulation is implemented on the Boca de Jaruco field for high oil viscosity production. Currently the fuel gas at the Republic of Cuba is very expensive that is why the problem of looking for alternative energy source for steam generation is very urgent. The geographic location of the Boca de Jaruco field is very promising for the use of solar energy as a heat source for the steam generation process. In this article the key aspects of the parabolic trough implementation for steam generation at the Boca de Jaruco oil field have been studied.
References
1. Yudin E.V., Petrashov O.V., Osipov A.V., Results of pilot work on extraction of natural bitumens from oil-wet fractured carbonate rocks: Boca De Jaruco field case (In Russ.), SPE 187683-RU, 2017.
2. Solar Thermal Electricity Global Outlook 2016. – http://www.solarpaces.org/ new-web-nasertic/images/pdfs/GP-ESTELA-SolarPACES_Solar-Thermal-Electricity-Global-Outlook-2016_Executive-Summary.pdf
3. URL: https://openei.org/wiki/InformationвЃ
