Improved Management of the SAGD Steam Chamber via Inflow Control Devices Presented by Sudiptya Banerjee SPE Heavy Oil/Horizontal Well Special Interest Group Calgary, Alberta March 28th, 2013

Uneven Production from a Horizontal Lateral Sections of the lateral are favored for production due to the influence of: Frictional pressure drop in the completion string Variations in Kv and Kh along the wellbore Variations in fluid composition and mobility Non-uniform reservoir pressure along the lateral length

Flow Control Devices: The Application to SAGD Injector Flow Equalization: Even steam distribution/steam chamber growth Higher sweep efficiency Higher thermal efficiency Potential for cheaper design (longer laterals, smaller ODs) Producer Flow Equalization: Supplements injection flow control Smaller variation in steam trap control liquid height Potential to choke back live steam entering the producer (autonomous flow controllers only)

Types of Flow Control Devices Frictional Geometry Big flow area, low velocity, viscosity sensitive ∆𝑃= 128𝜇𝐿𝑄 𝜋 𝑑 4 ∝ 𝜇𝑄 Restriction Geometry Small flow area, high velocity, partially viscosity insensitive ∆𝑃= 𝜌 2 𝑄 𝐴 2 ∝𝜌 𝑄 2 Autonomous Geometry Varies; big flow area, low velocity, viscosity insensitive ∆𝑃∝ 𝑎 2 𝑅𝑒 𝑏 2 + 𝑎 1 𝑅𝑒 𝑏 1 + 𝑎 2 𝑅𝑒 𝑏 2 1+ 𝑅𝑒 𝑡 𝑐 𝑑

Performance Characterization Hybrid Geometry

Visualizing the Fluid Flow Path

Fluid Dynamics in the Device (Oil, 189 cP)

Fluid Dynamics in the Device (Water, 1 cP)

Case Study – SPE 153706 The SPE paper submitted by John Stalder with Conoco Phillips, displays the superior performance of the Equalizer in an actual field installation. The geological description of wells 04, 05 and 06 are virtually identical. Wells 04 and 05 were conventional completions with slotted liners, well 06 with Equalizers. Well pairs 01-05 were started in July 2007. Well pair 06, containing the Equalizer injector and producer was started April 2009, 21 months after wells 01-05. Please note there was no toe tubing string in either the injector or producer after preheating ended. As you can see from the seismic data, well 06 performed exceeding well and the steam chamber developed rapidly, catching up as it were to the two similar well pairs.

Bitumen Production As you can see, although well pair 06 was started 21 months after the two similar wells, it has an approximately 50% increase in production over the same amount of production time. Approximately 30 months into operation, well 06 was converted over to an ESP to handle the increased production.

Cumulative Steam-Oil-Ratio (CSOR) The Cumulative SOR for well 06, also excelled in delivering a lower CSOR than the other wells demonstrating a superior thermal efficiency. The net value of lowering the CSOR by 0.1 or 0.2 equates to a different dollar value for each producer. I’m sure someone in this room could tell us what that would equate to for Cenovus.

Conclusion Improved steam injection correlates to better thermal efficiency Use of autonomous flow control devices in the producer provides additional confidence in steam trap control Modeling critical to proper application Questions?