FIELD OBSERVATIONS OF IN-SITU COMBUSTION IN A WATERFLOODED RESERVOIR IN THE KINSELLA FIELD

An in situ combustion pilot project was conducted in the Viking Kinsel la Wainwright B pool (oil gravity 20-degrees-API) from 1983 to 1987. A ir, enriched air. and oxygen were injected into the waterflooded reser voir during two phases of the project. In Phase 1, air was the injecti on gas; in Phase 2, oxygen enriched air and oxygen were the injection gases. Following the termination of the pilot, an analysis of the proj ect was performed. This paper will describe the operation of the pilot and present the results of the project. The principal conclusion is t hat the pilot did not sustain combustion at high temperatures. Instead , it generated an oxidation zone in which the predominant reactions we re those of low temperature oxidation. Even so, incremental oil was pr oduced during Phase 1. Incremental recovery was estimated to be 1.2% o f the Original Oil In Place (OOIP) in Pattern 59. Had Phase 1 not been terminated, incremental recovery could have reached 7% of the OOIP. P hase 2 was characterized by production of oxygen, shut in wells, and o ther operating problems. These problems were primarily a result of unf avourable oxidation kinetics with the Kinsella oil at high oxygen conc entrations.