State-of-the-art of thermal recovery models

Thermal recovery models for oil recovery consist of steam injection and in-situ combustion simulators. At the present time, steam injection simulators have been developed to a point where it is possible to reliably simulate portions of a fieldwide flood. Cyclic steam stimulation simulation still entails a number of questionable assumptions. Formation parting cannot be simulated in either case. In-situ combustion simulators lack the capability for front tracking. Even though the models are rather sophisticated, process mechanism description and input data are inadequate. 71 refs.