An echoing in-situ combustion oil recovery project in a Utah tar sand

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Publication Type journal article
Research Institute Institute for Clean and Secure Energy (ICSE)
Author Johnson, Lyle A. Jr.; Fahy, L. John; Romanowski, Leo J. Jr.; Barbour, Richard V.; Thomas, Kenneth P.
Title An echoing in-situ combustion oil recovery project in a Utah tar sand
Date 1982
Description U.S. tar sand resources contain an estimated 30 billion bbl (4.7 Gm3) of oil in place in about 550 occurrences in 22 states. Over 90% of the known resources are in six large deposits in Utah, each containing from 1 to 16 billion bbl (0.15 to 2.5 Gm3) of oil. 1 Four major tar sand deposits in Alberta, Canada, contain some 900 billion bbl (143 Gm3) of oil, and deposits in Venezuela and Colombia contain an estimated 1 to 1.8 trillion bbl (0.15 to 0.28 Tm3).3 The first U.S. DOE tar sand field experiment (LERC TS-lC) was conducted in Utah's Northwest Asphalt Ridge deposit in late 1975. LERC TS-lC accomplished its two primary goals: (1) to demonstrate the feasibility of applying a reverse combustion process to a heterogeneous tar sand reservoir with a high average oil saturation and (2) to provide the Laramie Energy Technology Center (LETC) research personnel with valuable experience in application of the combustion process and operation of its related equipment. Results of LERC TS-lC and supporting research are reported in several publications.4-14 LERC TS-lC provided encouragement for a second field experiment (LERC TS-2C) designed to use reverse combustion as a preparatory phase for forward combustion. LERC TS-2C tested the technical feasibility of the application of a combination thermal recovery process -reverse and forward combustion- for the in situ extraction of oil from tar sands. The reverse combustion (preparatory) phase improved the natural reservoir conditions for application of the forward combustion (production) phase. However, the fire front moved through the pattern in a series of reverse and forward combustion phases (echoing combustion) during the experiment. The experiment was ignited in late August, 1977, and completed in February, 1978. More than 25% of the oil in place was produced in 183 days from a 13-ft (4-m) thick test zone at a depth of 350 ft (107 m) within a 40 x 120 ft (12 x 36 m) nine-well drive pattern.
Type Text
Publisher SPE-AIME, Interstate Oil Compact Commission
Subject in-situ combustion; oil recovery project; Utah tar sand; echoing in-situ; U.S. tar sand resources; reverse combustion process; heterogeneous tar sand reservoir
Language eng
Bibliographic Citation Johnson, L. A. Jr., Fahy, L. J., Romanowski, L. J. Jr., Barbour, R. V., & Thomas, K. P. (1982). An echoing in-situ combustion oil recovery project in a Utah tar sand. Douglas Ball, L. C. Marchant, Arnold Goldburg, eds., The IOCC Monograph Series: Tar sands, 12, 151-162.
Relation Has Part Douglas Ball, L. C. Marchant, Arnold Goldburg, eds., The IOCC Monograph Series: Tar sands;cha. 12, pp. 151-162 (1982)
Rights Management (c)SPE-AIME, Interstate Oil Compact Commission
Identifier ir-eua/id/2840
Source DSpace at ICSE
ARK ark:/87278/s68081qv
Setname ir_eua
ID 213964
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s68081qv
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