M.R. Ado, M. Greaves and S.P. Rigby Petroleum Research xxx (xxxx) xxx

Estimad@ Compañer@, tengo fe de que Usted, al igual que otros que están en mi lista de distribución, está interesado en conocer más sobre las tecnologías mencionadas en el título de este artículo. Por esa razón, les proveo, anexo, algunos títulos de documentos disponibles en Internet en los que se señalan, no solo lo exitoso de esas tecnologías en los ensayos de laboratorio, sino los beneficios, también, en el campo.

Una cosa que no nos atrevemos a negar nuestro convencimiento de que la INVESTIGACIÓN no se parará en la búsqueda de nuevos métodos que permitan producir, y con menos daño al ambiente, en cantidades comerciales los petróleos pesados y extrapesados del mundo, de los cuales Venezuela posee las mayores reservas. En ese sentido, puedo mencionar tecnologías como la Inyección de Agua, Inyección de Surfactantes, Inyección de Vapor, Inyección de Polímeros, Combustión en Sitio, SAGD (Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage), VAPEX (Vapor Extraction) , CHOPS (Cold Heavy Oil Production wth Sands), Desafaltación, Calentamiento con Resistencias Eléctricas, THAI(Toe to Heel Air Injection),THAI-CAPRI(Toe to Heel Air Injection - CAtalytic upgrading PRocess In-situ), Inyección de Nanopartículas y las que vendrán.

Sería mezquino, de mi parte, no reconocer que en el pasado distante, y en uno no muy distante, en Venezuela hubo proyectos exitosos para la recuperación adicional de petróleo pesado, específicamente, con la inyección de vapor y ensayos modestos, sin aplicación a una gran escala, de la inyección de surfactantes o uso de resistencias eléctricas. Pero, por muchas razones estos han dejado de aplicarse, que no viene al caso discutir aquí.

Debemos reconocer que el problema de nuestras Grandes Reservas de petróleo extrapesado de La Faja no es solo producirlas, sino, mas bien, mejorarlas en el yacimiento de modo que obtengamos un producto comercializable "directamente desde el pozo". En ese sentido, hemos estado dejando pasar muchos trenes y no hemos aplicado ninguna tecnología que lo permita. Por eso, en algunos de mis artículos anteriores, y en el presente, he recomendado el inicio de implementación de tecnologías como THAI y THAI-CAPRI, estando, al mismo tiempo, convencido que "por ahí van unos tiros".

Como la tecnología sigue avanzando, también, trataré un avance tecnológico adicional con el que se ha estado ensayando como es la NANOTECNOLOGÍA. En este sentido, junto con la combustión en sitio se inyectan catalizadores en nanopartículas que, también, permiten el Mejoramiento en el Yacimiento del Petróleo Extrapesado de La Faja. Sobre este aspecto escribiré en mi próximo artículo.

A continuación parte de documentación que les puede servir para ir conociendo, aún más, sobre el Mejoramiento en el Yacimiento de Petróleo Extrapesado como el que tenemos en La Faja y estar preparado para cuando Superbigote llame a alguno de Ustedes para hablar sobre el Tema:

• 1. Algunas tesis de grado para master y PHD relacionadas con Combustión en Sitio, THAI Y THAI-CAPRI, etc.
  • In Situ Upgrading of Heavy Oil. Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology. August 2001. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/250092752_In_Situ_Upgrading_of_Heavy_Oil.
  • An In Situ Combustion Simulator for Enhanced Oil Recovery. https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/14790/
  • Investigation of an in situ combustion kinetics using the isoconversional principle.https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:mf038wz2108/PhD_thesis_Bo_Chen-augmented.pdf
  • Conducting in-situ combustion tube experiments using artificial neural networks. https://etda.libraries.psu.edu/files/final_submissions/6728
  • Towards field scale in-situ combustion simulation. https://pangea.stanford.edu/ERE/pdf/pereports/MS/Glatz2012.pdf.
  • Enhancement of Heavy Oil/Bitumen Thermal Recovery Using Nano Metal Particles. https://www.bing.com/search?q=enhancement+of+heavy+oil%2Fbitumen+thermal+recovery+using+nano+metal+particles&cvid=898393052ac74bddb9255d73ada90dcb&aqs=edge.0.69i59i450l5.24123634j0j1&FORM=ANSPA1&PC=DCTS.

• 1. Algunas Referencias Bibliográficas sobre Combustión en sitio, THAI y THAI-CAPRI, etc.

Ado. Muhammad Rabiu a, b, *, Malcolm Greaves c, Sean P. Rigby b

Effect of operating pressure on the performance of THAI-CAPRI in situ combustion and in situ catalytic process for simultaneous thermal and catalytic upgrading of heavy oils and bitumen. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2096249521000752.

a. Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, King Faisal University, P.O. Box: 380, Al-Ahsa, 31982, Saudi Arabia b Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK c Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK

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Ado, M.R., 2021b. Improving heavy oil production rates in Thai process using wells configured in a staggered line drive (SLD) instead of in a direct line drive (DLD) configuration: detailed simulation investigations. J. Pet. Explor. Prod. Technol. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13202-021-01269-0.

Ado, M.R., 2021c. Understanding the mobilised oil drainage dynamics inside laboratory-scale and field-scale reservoirs for more accurate Thai process design and operation procedures. J. Pet. Explor. Prod. Technol. https://doi.org/ 10.1007/s13202-021-01285-0.

Ado, M.R., 2020a. A detailed approach to up-scaling of the Toe-to-Heel Air Injection (Thai) In-Situ Combustion enhanced heavy oil recovery process. J. Petrol. Sci. Eng. 187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2019.106740.

Ado, M.R., 2020b. Impacts of kinetics scheme used to simulate toe-to-heel air injection (Thai) in situ combustion method for heavy oil upgrading and production. ACS Omega 5. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.9b03661.

Ado, M.R., 2020c. Simulation study on the effect of reservoir bottom water on the performance of the Thai in-situ combustion technology for heavy oil/tar sand upgrading and recovery. SN Appl. Sci. 2. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-0191833-1.

Ado, M.R., 2020d. Effect of reservoir pay thickness on the performance of the Thai heavy oil and bitumen upgrading and production process. J. Pet. Explor. Prod. Technol. 10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13202-020-00840-5.

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