摘要
Due to the increased demand for energy resources these days,especially due to the Russian-Ukrainian war,the focus of the major countries is turning strongly towards improving oil production,especially heavy and extra heavy oil,which represents 40%of the world oil reserve.Steam-based and thermal(EOR)procedures are promising techniques for recovering heavy oil reservoirs,but they suffer from a sequence of problems and complications that arise after long-term application.These complications comprise steam breakthrough,steam overlap,and steam/rock interactions.This research presents the currently applied techniques to maximize the productivity of heavy oil,such as steam injection,cyclic steam stimulation,in-situ combustion,and steam-assisted gravity drainage.Thermal technologies face numerous obstacles,as they are energy and water-intensive processes that are not environmentally friendly.The research also presents future trends in energy-saving and environmentally friendly techniques that enhance heavy oil recovery through vapor extraction(VAPEX)steam-solvent hybrid techniques,electromagnetic energy,sonication,and nanotechnology.The findings of this review reported that all the presented techniques focus on how to reduce the oil viscosity and in-situ upgrade the crude oil properties.In turn,these enhance both the productivity rate and oil recovery and minimize the production cost.This article can be considered a comprehensive review of thermal recovery methods in heavy and extra-heavy oil,in addition to screening criteria used for each method.
