The Yaregskoye oil and gas field includes Yaregskaya, Lyaelskaya and Vezhavozhskaya areas. At present, only Yaregskaya and Lyaelskaya areas are in industrial development. Yaregskoye deposit is represented by a terrigenous type of reservoir. This field is unique not only in terms of the rheological characteristics of the saturating fluid (the viscosity of the oil exceeds 12,000 mPa·s), but also by the development method. At Yaregsskaya area two alternative systems of thermo-drafting are used: underground-surface and one-horizon. For the extraction of heavy oil and natural bitumen using thermal methods, one of the most effective is the one-horizon development system, which is being implemented at the Yaregskoye field since the 1970s.
In the article strengths and weaknesses of the applied one-horizon system are considered. A modernized one-horizon system is proposed. The results of pilot works in the oil mine No. 2 of the Yaregskoye deposit are given (average lengths of underground producing and injection wells were 250 m). Comparison of the field data obtained with the use of various development systems showed that the modernization of the one-horizon system resulted in significantly increase of the oil recovery factor. The obtained results made it possible to start new pilot works in the oil mine No. 3. To improve efficiency, the modernized one-horizon system was modified by using new designs for injection and production wells up to 800 m in length, closed system for collecting production of wells, as well as regulating the rate of injection of steam into the system of injection wells and extraction from producing wells.
The geological-filtration model of the mine block 2T-4 of the oil mine No. 3 was developed. The model allowed to substantiate the design, the optimal location of producing and injection wells up to 800 m long.
References
1. Ruzin L.M., Chuprov I.F., Morozyuk O.A., Durkin S.M., Tekhnologicheskie printsipy razrabotki zalezhey anomal’no vyazkikh neftey i bitumov (Technological principles of development of deposits of abnormally viscous oil and bitumen), Izhevsk: Publ. of Institute of Computer Science, 2015, 480 p.
2. Tyun’kin B.A., Konoplev Yu.P., Opyt podzemnoy razrabotki neftyanykh mestorozhdeniy i osnovnye napravleniya razvitiya termoshakhtnogo sposoba dobychi nefti (Experience of underground mining of oil fields and the main directions of development of thermal mining method for oil extraction), Ukhta: Publ. of PechorNIPIneft’, 1996, 160 p.
