A Dual-Directional Flow Control Device for Cyclic Steam Stimulation Applications

Cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) is one the most effective thermal recovery methods. It is widely used as the primary thermal recovery method to recover heavy oil fields in the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific region, and North and South America. In this paper, a novel dual-directional flow control device (FCD) will be introduced. This FCD technology can allocate accurate steam outflow into the reservoir formation and improve steam quality during the steam injection period and can mitigate steam breakthrough from the neighboring wells during the production period. In the first section, we give a brief introduction on CSS and the main issues encountered in the field operation. A multidirectional flow control nozzle specifically designed for CSS application will be presented. Design philosophy in thermodynamics and hydrodynamics of the nozzle will be discussed in detail. Field performance results, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and flow loop testing data will be shown to evaluate the performance of the technology. The application of the technology in steam-assisted thermal applications will be introduced. Well-known issues such as erosion and scaling on the FCD tools will be studied in the end.