Introduction to Heavy Oil: Genesis, Properties, Distribution, Recovery Technologies and Upgrading
By: Ali Shafiei
Instructor
Dr Ali Shafiei
(Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan)
Duration
12-13 May 2022
9:00AM-1:00PM CEST
4 hours/day
Disciplines
Engineering – Petroleum Engineering
Course Format
The EAGE Interactive online short courses bring carefully selected courses of experienced instructors from industry and academia online to give participants the possibility to follow the latest education in geoscience and engineering remotely. The courses are designed to be easily digested over the course of two or three days. Participants will have the possibility to interact live with the instructor and ask questions.
Education Packages
To help you save on registration fees and better organize your learning path, we are offering Education Packages for all Interactive Online Short Courses and Online EETs. The packages are valid for a period of 12 months, choose between packages of 3, 5 and 10 credits.
Course Description
The course explores heavy oil, extra heavy oil, and bitumen, also
known as viscous oil (VO), resource development including its
genesis, physical and chemical properties, resources, reserves, geographical distribution, production, transport, upgrading, refining,
future technology developments, and environmental impacts. There
are over 9 trillion barrels of heavy oil, extra heavy oil, and bitumen
oil known to exist in the world. By comparison, originally there were
about 4.7 trillion barrels of conventional oil of which almost 1.2
trillion barrels have been processed to date. Canada and Venezuela
alone possess over 30% of the world endowment. Since 1990 the
VO in situ production industry has seen a number of startling advances. New production technologies, combined with developments in
waste management, upgrading, monitoring and transportation have
changed expectations. Now, it is a widely held view that 15-20% of
the world’s VO resource base can be profitably produced with current
technology; this ratio will rise as further technological advances are
implemented. By 2030, VO’s contribution to the daily oil production
will be about 17%. These figures show the importance of VO developments in the near future to fulfill a major part of the growing
global demand for fossil fuels.
A summary of the main topics along with a brief description of the
viscous oil resource, its size, production technology advances during
the last few decades and environmental issues related to development of this vast resource. The terminology used herein, including
terms alluding to VO physical properties (e.g. tar sands, heavy oil, extra-heavy oil, bitumen) and terms used to classify VO into categories
such as known or assumed resources (OOIP), technical reserves, and
proven, probable or possible reserves are defined. Chemical composition and physical properties play crucial roles in production technology selection as well as upgrading and refining technology selection.
Chemical and physical properties of some VO’s are presented and
the differences are discussed. Some of the proposed mechanisms for
VO emplacement, followed by the genesis, physical and chemical
properties and reservoir characteristics of the some major VO fields
in several countries are outlined. The nature and development of
different in situ production technologies including scientific and engineering challenges such as understanding geomechanics impacts
on production or finding other heat sources for steam generation are
addressed. Upgrading, refining techniques and transportation used
in the VO industry is also highlighted. The environmental sustainability of VO development is also discussed.
Course Objectives
Upon successful completion of the course the attendants will be able
to:
• Describe genesis, physical, and chemical characteristics, and geographical distribution of heavy oil resources around the world;
• Explain the major commercialized and emerging heavy oil recovery
technologies;
• Recall some examples of heavy oil recovery operations;
• Describe major heavy oil upgrading technologies
Course Outline
The course deals with:
• Geographical distribution of heavy oil resources around the world;
• Major heavy oil recovery technologies and recovery mechanisms;
• Geomechanics effects;
• Heavy oil upgrading technologies;
• Environmental issues;
• Technological challenges.
The course has foundation level, but is comprehensive. A more detailed outline can be provided on request (depending on level and duration of the course and also background of the course participants). The course can be delivered in 1-2 days or in 4-7 days with more details including problem solving sessions.
Participants' Profile
The course is intended for engineers, geoscientists, and technologists active in E&P industry involved in exploration, production, transportation, upgrading and environmental management.
Prerequisites
Knowledge of the oil industry and a good sense of physics and chemistry will be valuable.
About the Instructor
Dr Ali Shafiei
Dr Ali Shafiei is currently an Assistant Professor of Petroleum Engineering in Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan. He obtained his PhD (March 2013) in “Thermal Heavy Oil Recovery and Petroleum Reservoir Geomechanics” from the University of Waterloo in Canada with a dissertation on: “Mathematical and Statistical Investigation of Steamflooding in Naturally Fractured Carbonate Heavy Oil Reservoirs”. The focus of his PhD research project was on developing mathematical and statistical tools to predict performance of steamflooding in naturally fractured heavy oil reservoirs as one of the very challenging classes of reservoirs in terms of reservoir behavior considering the complex production mechanisms involved and the interaction between the rock matrix and the fracture network. Shafiei is a specialist in reservoir characterization and formation evaluation, heavy oil recovery from complex reservoir systems, EOR, and petroleum geomechanics. Shafiei has over a decade of Canadian and international research, graduate supervision, teaching, training, and consulting/industry experience in the E&P industry. He was a scientific adviser to the Alberta Department of Energy (Alberta, Canada) in 2014 served as a member of the Innovative Energy Technology Program (IETP 2014) to review progress reports on various full field scale trials that the Alberta DoE was involved with various oil and gas companies in Canada on heavy oil recovery and geological CO2 sequestration. He is also a long time active member of the EAGE, SPE, and AAPG. As of today, Shafiei’s professional and academic experience has resulted in over 40 refereed journal papers, vetted conference proceedings, chapters in books and monographs in petroleum geosciences and engineering and reservoir geomechanics.