Electromagnetic radiation in heavy oil recovery process. Assessing a numerical model to predict the oil mobility

Abstract

New recovery technologies are having an impact on heavy oil production which makes many marginal projects profitable. Before applying any technology or investing any capital in that, it is very important to have a model that can predict the results or oil recovery ratios. This paper deals with a model for predicting the flow in porous media of heavy oil using one of these emerging technologies (electromagnetic field) for heavy oil recovery. Some experiments were performed using different scenarios and thus evaluate the accuracy of the model developed in this article. It was found that the time and the frequency of the waves are key factors in promoting oil production. Also the article presents preliminary results of the model which will be useful for selecting the optimal frequency and time to stimulate heavy oil production to industrial scale.