초록 ▼

A process and system which integrates on-site heavy oil or bitumen upgrading and energy recovery for steam production with steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) production of the heavy oil or bitumen. The heavy oil or bitumen produced by SAGD is flashed to remove the gas oil fraction, and the resid

A process and system which integrates on-site heavy oil or bitumen upgrading and energy recovery for steam production with steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) production of the heavy oil or bitumen. The heavy oil or bitumen produced by SAGD is flashed to remove the gas oil fraction, and the residue is solvent deasphalted to obtain deasphalted oil, which is mixed with the gas oil fraction to form a pumpable synthetic crude. The synthetic crude has an improvement of 4-5 degrees of API and lower in sulfur, nitrogen and metal compounds. The synthetic crude is not only more valuable than the heavy oil or bitumen, but also has substantial economic advantage of reducing the diluent requirement since it has lower viscosity than the heavy oil or bitumen. The asphaltenes, following an optional pelletizing and/or slurrying step, are used as a fuel for combustion in boilers near the steam injection wells for injection into the heavy oil or bitumen reservoir. This eliminates the need for natural gas or other fuel to produce steam at reservoir location and thus improves the economics of the heavy oil or bitumen production substantially. Alternatively, the asphaltenes are used as a feedstock for gasification to produce injection steam, synthesis gas. The CO2 could be used as additive with injection steam to enhance the performance of SAGD and the hydrogen could be exported to nearby processing facility. The invention upgrades the heavy oil or bitumen to a synthetic crude of improved value that can be pipelined with reduced amount of diluent, while at the same time using the asphaltene fraction of the residue for combustion to fulfill the energy requirements for generating injection steam for SAGD.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A process for recovering a pumpable crude oil from a subterranean reservoir of heavy oil or bitumen, comprising the steps of:(a) injecting steam through one or more injection wells completed in communication with the reservoir to mobilize the heavy oil or bitumen; (b) producing the mobilized heav

1. A process for recovering a pumpable crude oil from a subterranean reservoir of heavy oil or bitumen, comprising the steps of:(a) injecting steam through one or more injection wells completed in communication with the reservoir to mobilize the heavy oil or bitumen; (b) producing the mobilized heavy oil or bitumen from at least one production well completed in the reservoir; (c) fractionating the heavy oil or bitumen produced from step (b) at a location adjacent to the reservoir into a first fraction as a minor amount of the heavy crude comprising a gas oil fraction and second fraction comprising a residue; (d) solvent deasphalting the second fraction of the heavy oil or bitumen produced from step (c) to form an asphaltene fraction and a deasphalted oil fraction essentially free of asphaltenes; (e) combusting the asphaltene fraction from step (d) to produce the steam for injection step (a); (f) blending the first fraction from step (c) with the deasphalted oil fraction from step (d) to form a pumpable synthetic crude oil; and (g) pipelining the synthetic crude oil to a location remote from the reservoir.