Numerical Simulation and Economic Evaluation of Hybrid Solvent Processes

Solvent-based processes for recovery of heavy oil and bitumen have potential application to a variety of reservoir situations. Potential processes range from steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) to VAPEX, with a range of hybrid processes in between. Over 50 laboratory-scale and 80 field-scale simulations were run to determine optimum operating points for various hybrid processes. The results showed that steam-butane simulations yielded two "sweet spots" where the cost objective function was lower than that for SAGD. Economic analysis was done based on a set of field-scale simulations. This analysis showed that a hybrid solvent process for an Athabasca reservoir was an alternative to SAGD. The analysis may be extended to other reservoir types as needed.