| Abstract
| - This study presents an experimental investigation of the effect of fractures and wellconfigurations on the steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) process in a three-dimensionalmodel, using 12.4°API gravity crude oil. A total of eight runs were conducted, using a 30 cm ×30 cm × 10 cm rectangular-shaped box model. Temperature distributions were observed using25 thermocouples. Three different well configurations were investigateda horizontal injectionand production well pair, a vertical injection−vertical production well pair, and a verticalinjection−horizontal production well pairwith and without fractures that provided a verticalpath through the horizontal producer. The influence of fracture distribution on the steam−oilratio (SOR) and oil recovery was analyzed using the horizontal well pair scheme, a verticalinjection−horizontal production well pair, and a vertical injection and vertical production wellscheme. The experimental results indicated that vertical fractures improved SAGD. Maximumoil recovery was observed during the horizontal injection−horizontal production well scheme witha fractured model, because of the favorable steam-chamber geometry. Runs showed that thelocation of the fractures affects the performance of the process. During the early stages of theruns, the fractured model gave significantly higher SORs than those observed in the uniform-permeability reservoir.
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