Vibration-Stimulated Gas Pressure Cycling Process for Enhanced Heavy Oil Recovery

Vibration stimulation was used to produce light/conventional oil but has seldomly been used in heavy oil and bitumen production. As an innovative enhanced heavy oil recovery technology, the vibration-stimulated gas pressure cycling (VS-GPC) process, for the first time, is proposed in this research. A series of gas pressure cycling (GPC) and VS-GPC tests are performed on a reliable vibratory testing system specially designed and assembled for the study. The experimental data quantifies the impact of the externally applied vibration on improving the heavy oil recovery with cyclic gas/solvent injection. The effects of the vibration amplitude, frequency, and duration on the heavy oil recovery are investigated systematically. The detailed phenomenon of vibration stimulation on fluid mobility and flow is explored in porous media. It is found that the lowest frequency of vibration carried results in the highest heavy oil recovery among the CO2-VS-GPC tests completed. This research provides a guide for designing a practically sound technique for enhanced heavy oil recovery with the combination of GPC and externally applied vibratory stimulations.