Feasibility of Reservoir Heating by Electromagnetic Irradiation

Abstract

ABSTRACT Conventional thermal EOR methods, such as fireflooding and steamflooding, are commercially viable when properly applied. Every conventional method has one or more limitations. Electromagnetic heating (EMH) has the potential for overcoming some of these limitations. The EMH process relies on preferential absorption of electromagnetic energy as the means for increasing the temperature of a material. An algorithm for estimating the temperature increase associated with reservoir irradiation is described. The algorithm accounts for heat loss to confining strata. It is useful for generating a temperature profile of an irradiated reservoir. Applications of the algorithm to hypothetical reservoirs illustrate typical data sources and computational results.