Numerical Investigation of Enhanced Oil Recovery with Steam Injection

Crude oil has remained one of the major mineral resources with maximum effect on the economy of its producing countries and the world at large. For continuous oil production, there is need for application of various techniques at different oil production stages. Steam injection appears to be one of the prominent methods applied in reservoir oil recovery whose strength is also harnessed in this article. A three dimensional graphics model was developed using computational fluid dynamics software capable of handling both Newtonian and Non Newtonian fluids. Initial conditions were spelled out and the properties of heavy oil specified. Steam chamber was specified into which steam particles were injected. The governing equations for the models were developed. Also cumulative frequency temperature decreases with time across the cells. During steam injection in a reservoir, oil saturation decreases with time. It was noticed that the recovery factor increases initially to a certain level before decreasing because of the reduction in the steam temperature. The simulation result further shows that accumulation oil production increases along the length of the cell. The simulation results have demonstrated that the steam injection is an effective technique in improving oil recovery.