The majority of global petroleum is in the form of highly viscous heavy oil. Traditionally heavy oil in sands at shallow depths is accessed by large scale mining activities. Recently steam has been used to allow heavy oil extraction with greatly reduced surface disturbance. However, in situ thermal recovery processes can generate hydrogen sulphide, high levels of which are toxic to humans and c...

This study examines the effects of change in the concentrations of monovalent and divalent ions in the polymer-contained surfactant solution on the macroscopic behavior of viscous-modified surfactant waterflooding in heavy oil reservoirs. Salts that are used in this set of floods were sodium chloride, magnesium chloride, and calcium chloride. The results indicate that four different ranges ...

Nonionic surfactant-stabilised oil-in-water emulsions offer a potentially useful vehicle for transporting heavy crude oils from oilfields to refineries or distribution terminals. Prior to refining, separation of the oil from the emulsion is necessary. Previous studies have suggested that heating the emulsion is sufficient for destabilisation and recovery of the oil. The present work examines th...

This study focused on the determination of detailed grain morphology using SEM technology on some Athabasca oil sands samples obtained from the Upper McMurray Formation in the Manville Group which occurs in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. The research was carried out using scientific techniques to understand grain morphology—being a major effect in discerning reservoir quality—a factor wh...

INTRODUCTION Protect the oil wells to increase their longevity is now one of the major oil-producing countries is difficult. Each year, an extraordinary global budget for research on EOR and MEOR (enhanced oil recovery methods) is allocated. In addition, the owners of these vessels extraordinary efforts to exploit new, lower cost, and highly efficient techniques. A new and promising way to incr...

In the process of heavy oil thermal recovery, the creep of strata can often be accelerated due to injection pressure, the temperature of steam, the structural characteristics of rock itself and other factors. However, the effect of creep in strata may cause various types of damage in underground mining, such as fracture or deformation of oil casings, and so on. The mechanism of fluid–structure ...