Real-Time Monitoring and Performance Optimization of Steam Injection in Heavy Oil Reservoirs Using Fiber Optic Sensing and Integrated Predictive Simulation Models

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DOI: 10.23880/ppej-16000410

Volume 9, Issue 2

Abstract

Real-time surveillance that identifies departures from safe operating limits and permits timely remedial action is essential to effective reservoir management. This study uses distributed fiber-optic sensing (FOS) to assess the effectiveness of steamassisted gravity drainage (SAGD) in Suplac Field, a heavy-oil reservoir (8–13 °API, 500–1000 cP). Wells #1 and #2, two horizontal injectors, are observed for two full steam-injection cycles that lasted 130 and 150 days, respectively. Together with downhole pressure and steam-quality measurements, high-resolution FOS data yielded 3D temperature profiles down the wellbore, which were then analyzed to determine out-of-range operating situations and quantify reservoir reaction. Comparisons across cycles showed how temperature fronts changed, how steam quality deteriorated, and how output indicators like water cut and oil rate drop changed. In order to estimate temperature, pressure, and steam quality under the same injection settings, a linked wellbore/reservoir model was constructed in Prosper to simulate fluid characteristics in the tubing and annulus. The methodology was validated and areas where real-time FOS data might improve simulation assumptions were highlighted by the model outputs' reasonable agreement with FOS observations. An effective method for optimizing heavy-oil steam injection that improves recovery efficiency and operating safety is the combined FOS–simulation approach.

Keywords: QFiber Optic Sensing; Prosper model; Pressure; Temperature; Thermal EOR; Steam quality

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