Cold Lake Cyclic Steam Stimulation:

A Multiwell Process
E. Vlttoratos, SPE, Oeorge R. Scott, and Craig I. aeattle, SPE, Esso Resources Canada ltd.

Summary. Cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) typically is thought of as a single-well process. At Cold Lake, however, where steam
injectivity is achieved by fracturing the formation, considerable interwell communication is observed. The result is usually the watering
out of a producer by condensed steam from a neighboring injector. These interwell interactions greatly complicate steam-injection scheduling
for commercial projects involving hundreds of wells but do not seem to reduce bitumen production in early cycles. Field experience
indicates that steaming rows of wells sequentially with 50% overlap in injection time between adjacent rows significantly reduces water
transfer between wells, increases the conformance of the injected heat, and reduces the field's tendency to form communicating well
couplets. Exploratory numerical simulations show that the impact of steaming strategy on bitumen production is not significant until
later cycles.

Introduction
CSS is a complex recovery process composed of a variety of
recovery mechanisms whose relative importance changes with cycle
number. For the Cold Lake reservoir, where steam injectivity is
achieved by fracturing the formation,I,2 modeling the process is
particularly challenging. The basis for investment decisions for com-
mercial expansion, therefore, has been largely empirical. Even so,
efforts to understand the process, and in particular to delineate the
recovery mechanisms, are continuing. 3
CSS generally has been modeled as a single-well process. The
injected heat and fluids are envisioned to remain in the vicinity of
the wellbore, lowering bitumen viscosity and increasing reservoir
pressure. During the production phase, the increased reservoir
pressure, along with gravity, drives heated bitumen to the wellbore.
No-flow boundary conditions are assumed to encircle the spacing
area of the well. 3,4 Conceptually, such a model is correct for small
steam-stimulation volumes. As the steam-stimulation volumes in-
crease, however, the disturbances associated with heat injection
become less localized; for very large volumes associated with con-
tinuous injection, the process evolves into a multiwell steamflood
process. Thus, a continuum exists from single-well CSS to mul-
tiwell displacement.
At the Leming pilot at Cold Lake, substantial single-well CSS
behavior has been observed and successfully modeled for well
patterns with large aspect ratios. 3 CSS is not a single-well process,
however, for commercial projects with steam-stimulation volumes
of 8000 m 3 [50,000 bbl] or more and wells on 1.6-ha [4-acre]
spacing with aspect ratios of 1.7. For example, a fraction of the
fluids injected in a well may not be produced by the same well but
rather by neighboring wells on production, indicating that elements
of displacement also exist in the process. Interwell interactions
during CSS at the Cold Lake area have been reported. 5 ,6 This in-
terwell interference or "communication" affects the production
profiles dramatically. Thus, the total performance of the reservoir
is not merely the summation of isolated wells whose performance
is independent of the steaming sequence.
This paper gives examples of the interwell communication ob-
served with CSS at Cold Lake and introduces terminology useful
for quantifying the process. Approaches to inferring the properties
of the interwell communication path from surface measurements
are outlined, and the practical limitations in their use noted. The
paper then discusses a steaming strategy to reduce the degree of
fluid breakthrough and to increase the reservoir conformance of
the injected heat. Finally, results from numerical simulations of
the multi well CSS process are presented and compared with field
experience.
Reservoir Description and Operations
The main steam-stimulation target for Esso Resources Canada Ltd.
(ERCL) at Cold Lake is the Cretaceous Clearwater formation. The
sands are thick and unconsolidated, with net pay often in excess
of 35 m [115 ft] and porosity between 30 and 35 %. Oil saturation
Copyright 1990 Society of Petroleum Engineers
SPE Reservoir Engineering, February 1990
averages 11 wt %, or about 0.7 of the PV. The oil is very viscous,
about 100 Pa' s [100 ,000 cp] at the ambient reservoir temperature
of 13°C [55°F]. Essentially no water or steam injectivity exists
unless the formation is mechanically failed. Both vertical and
horizontal fracturing have been observed at the initiation of failure,
with horizontal fractur~s more common near areas that have un-
dergone intensive steam injection. Fluids move preferentially in the
northeast/southwest direction. ERCL's current production at Cold
Lake is more than 14000 m 3 /d [88,000 B/D].
The Maskwa and Mahihkan commercial projects currently consist
of more than 600 and 300 wells, respectively, with a spacing of
1.6 ha/well [4 acres/well]. Well separation at reservoir depth is
nominally 167 m [548 ft] toward the northeast/southwest and 98
m [322 ft] in the northwest/southeast direction. The wells are direc-
tionally drilled from 20-well "pads," which contain the in-
jection/production facilities. With the usual steam injection rate of
225 m 3 /d [1,415 B/D] (cold water equivalent), the steam capacity
of the plants permits steaming of about 20% of the wells at any time.
Example of Interwen Communication
Existing single-well theories of steam stimulation predict mono-
tonically decreasing water production and fluid temperature and
a bitumen production profile that initially increases to a peak and
then declines slowly with time. The profiles tend to broaden with
time for later cycles, as Fig. 1 shows. For such behavior to be ob-
served at the Cold Lake commercial projects with their aspect ratio
of 1.7, however, the steaming strategy must be highly structured,
as will be explained. When wells are steamed at random, the typical
behavior is illustrated by the second cycle of Well A shown in Fig.
2. Data from this well are of particular interest because the downhole
pressure and temperature measurements facilitate interpretation.
We note that the monotonic declines of water production and fluid
temperature were strikingly interrupted twice during the cycle. In
the first episode, water production rose from about 10 to 120 m 3 /d
[63 to 755 BID], before the well was shut in for 8 days; in the second
episode, the water production rose from 5 to 175 m 3 /d [32 to 1,100
BID], when the well was shut in again to await its third stimulation.
The downhole pressure rose from < 1 to > 5 MPa [ < 145 to > 725
psi] during both communication events, with downhole tempera-
tures exceeding 200°C [392°F]. A neighboring injection well in
the adjoining row (Row 3, 170 m [558 ft] away) affects Well A
on two occasions. The first communication event is a result of the
neighboring well being "warmed up" with 3500 m 3 [22,000 bbl]
of steam after being shut in for an extended period owing to me-
chanical problems; the second event occurs when the neighboring
well receives its regular third stimulation.
To help quantify the interwell interactions, we define the water
breakthrough volume, Vbw , as the amount of steam injected in a
well before the arrival of water at a neighboring producer, as indi-
cated by a sharp increase in the water production of the producer.
Similarly, the heat breakthrough volume, Vbh, is the quantity of
steam injected in the well before the arrival of heat at the producer,
as indicated by the wellhead temperature of the producer. Con-
19
 Bitumen
Water
Time
Fig. 1-Slngle-well CSS production profiles.
siderable judgment needs to be exercised with these concepts, par-
ticularly with V bh , because a rise in wellhead temperature may be
associated with increased fluid production volumes and water cuts
rather than heat arrival from an injector. Furthermore, the increase
in fluids rate may represent only the increased pressure gradients
in the reservoir rather than the arrival of fluids from adjoining wells.
Thus, in many cases, downhole data would be needed for an une-
quivocal interpretation, but such data are rarely available. Notwith-
standing these limitations, these quantities have been found useful
in evaluating alternative steaming strategies. For Well A, Vbw is
about 1000 and 2200 m 3 [6,300 and 14,000 bbl] for the first and
second events, respectively; Vbh for the second event is about 4700
m3 [29,600 bbl].
Properties of Communication Paths
The extensive interwell interactions observed at Cold Lake are a
result of the reservoir failure required to achieve commercial levels
of steam injectivity. This failure can extend to distances equal to
that of the well spacing or more. Thus, overlapping of the failed
portions of the reservoir may occur. The disturbed zones associated
with the wells create conduits of enhanced pressure and fluid prop-
agation between the wells, with the conduits embedded in a matrix
with significantly slower pressure and fluid propagation.
For example, field experiments at Cold Lake have shown that
the hydraulic diffusivity, which controls the propagation of pressure,
is about 4x 10- 4 m2 /s [4.3 x 10- 3 ft2/sec] for undisturbed sands
with a bitumen saturation of about 70%. Although much higher
than the thermal diffusivity2 of7x 10- 7 m 2 /s [7.5 X 10- 6 ft 2/sec],
it would still require many months to propagate half the increase
of a pressure step a distance of 100 m [330 ft]. On the other hand,
such a pressure increase has been observed in less than 1 day be-
tween a well on injection and an adjoining well in the production
phase of its stimulation cycle, presumably through the overlapping
failure regions associated with the two wells.
With the wellbore data, one could, in principle, make some
deductions on the properties of the interwell communication path.
In the first injection cycle, the value of Vbw is controlled by the
areal extent and volume of the communication region and by the
leakoff rate into the matrix. A small Vbw implies that only a re-
stricted region of the reservoir is contacted in the interwell com-
munication. Some inferences on the shape of the communication
region can be made from the heat-to-water-breakthrough volume
ratio, Vbh/Ybw' Cylindrical channels will have values of two to
three, whereas fractures will tend to have values of six and greater
because their larger surface for a given reservoir volume permits
more heat to be transferred to the reservoir. These estimates follow
from the Marx-Langenheim theory, which does not incorporate
leakoff from the communication region 7 ,8 and assumes an initially
unheated reservoir. For later cycles, the physical interpretation of
the Vbh/Ybw ratio becomes increasingly difficult as bitumen-
depleted zones develop around the stimulated wells and the com-
munication path becomes heated. In addition, as previously dis-
cussed, choosing the breakthrough volumes from surface
measurements is difficult.
20
200 300
i BhuIMfl ---
: Water
.
p
I
WtfTemp __
Fig. 2-lnfluence of interwell communication on production
profiles.
Thus, in practice, the deduction of the properties of the commu-
nication path from typical field data is rather conjectural. With the
downhole data from Well A, Vbh/Ybw is about two for the second
communication event. This implies that the interwell disturbed
region is approximately cylindrical. In other cases with wellhead
data, however, the VbhlVbw ratios range from two to six or more;
the larger values indicate a more planar communication path.
Perhaps the data indeed reflect the physical reality: interwell com-
munication occurs through an assortment of paths ranging from
cylindrical to planar.
Because fracturing is necessary for steam injectivity, interwell
interactions can be avoided only if wells are spaced significantly
in excess of the currently used 1. 6 ha [4 acres]. The result would
be low overall recoveries. Therefore, the emphasis needs to be
placed on managing the interwell interactions that will occur if high
bitumen recoveries are to be achieved. One aim is the achievement
of high heat conformance in the reservoir. As discussed previously,
the heat fronts lag the fluid fronts by a factor of two or more; thus,
if heat is to reach the reservoir midway between the wells, water
transfer between wells is to be expected.
Steaming Patterns
In principle, there are two types of steaming strategies for a large-
scale commercial CSS project: random or highly ordered. If CSS
were indeed a single-well process, then, from a purely reservoir
viewpoint, it would be immaterial which steaming strategy was
adopted. However, operational considerations-such as the steam
distribution system layout and total generation capacity-make the
use of ordered patterns considerably more convenient and energy
efficient. Steam scheduling and well servicing are also simplified.
Thus, the tendency would be to converge toward certain ordered
steaming patterns even in the absence of interwell interactions.
At Cold Lake, steam is delivered to pads for injection into 20
directionally drilled wells that span an area of 32 ha [80 acres] in
the reservoir. This basic unit was first used in the Leming pilot,
and steaming was performed through rows of five wells each.
Row Overlap Concept. Early in the row-steaming pilot, production
profiles were observed to vary considerably, depending on the se-
quence in which the rows were steamed. Consider adjoining Pads
Band C in the Leming pilot (Fig. 3). The lines represent the
steaming periods for the second-cycle steaming schedule for the
two pads. For Pad C, steaming begins at the fourth row (R4). Before
the completion of R4 steaming, R3 began to receive steam. The
overlap, O(R4,R3), between R4 and R3 is equal to the steam injected
into R3 during R4 steaming divided by the total R4 steam injected.
In this case, O(R4,R3) =30%. The steaming continues sequentially
to R2 and RI with overlaps of O(R3,R2) =70% and 0(R2,Rl) =30%.
Thus, the average overlap for this pad is about 40%.
On the other hand, at Pad B, the steaming is not sequential and
there is little overlap. Steaming begins at R3, shifts to RI, jumps
to R4 with O(Rl,R4) =20%, and finishes at R2. Thus, rows are in-
jecting while the adjoining rows may be well into the production
phase of their CSS cycle.
SPE Reservoir Engineering, February 1990
 Pad B PadC Pad B

[E
Row Row 2 Row 2
1 .......... 200
Row 1
f-----1
ROw~ 300
2 ·0··· .[!]•••
1-----1
ROW4 t---l P
I 1 Bitumen.-----
.......... 1-E
3
Water ----- 200 ~
4 Well Locations ~
; WHTemp--
Pad C
Row
0 Figure 4
0 Figure 5
6. Figure 6
a:
:!i! 100 :5
:
~
~
1 _steaming ii:
2 interval
3 0
0 100 200 300
4 Production Days
Day_
Fig. 4-lnterwell communication In Pad B with random
Fig. 3-Cycle 2 steaming patterns for Pads Band C. steaming.

Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate the strikingly different production profiles
resulting from different steaming strategies that are typical of wells
in R3 of Pads Band C, respectively (Wells D and E, respectively).
For Pad C in Fig. 5, the oil and water production profiles have
the appearance usually predicted by single-well theories: the water
production falls monotonically with time and the oil production rises,
reaches a peak, then declines monotonically to a low value at the
end of the cycle. The profiles from Pad B in Fig. 4, however, are
characterized by periods of sharply higher water production and
lower bitumen production. The timing of the disturbances correlates
with the periods of injection in RI, R2, and R4 of Pad B.
If fluid breakthrough does not result in an increase in well
downtime, its primary negative impact is the delay of bitumen pro-
duction caused by the production of excess water. For example,
had Well D (Fig. 4) been resteamed after 200 production days, as
was Well E (Fig. 5), the fluid communication would have resulted
in Well D producing only 75% of the bitumen produced by Well
E. However, the extension of the production period of Well D re-
sulted in the production of 135 % of the bitumen produced by Well E.
In summary, Figs. 4 and 5 demonstrate that steaming sequence
can have a large impact on fluid production from individual wells.
Averaged over a pad or larger well group, however, steaming
strategy does not seem to result in a significant difference in bi-
tumen production in early cycles. After minor allowances were made
for variations in the pad average steam volumes (Pad C 5 % higher)
and production days (Pad B 10% higher), it was found that the bi-
tumen production for Pads B and C was the same in Cycle 2.
Megarow Steaming. Thus far, we have considered interactions be-
tween rows. Some of the strongest interactions, however, are be-
tween pads when one pad may be on injection and the adjoining
pad is on production because the intercolumn separation between
wells is 98 m [322 ft] compared with 167 m [548 ft] between rows.
Pads Band C provide clear examples ofthese interactions. For ex-
ample, when Rl of Pad B starts second-cycle injection, Rl of Pad
C is 37 days into its 113-day first production cycle. Significant in-
tercolumn communication then occurs, as Fig. 6 shows.
The disruptive consequences of interpad communication led to
the development of the "megarow" steaming concept illustrated
in Fig. 7 for the commercial projects. Here, steaming extends in
a line across the whole project area and incorporates several pads.
This approach has greatly decreased the incidence of intercolurnn
communication.
Conformance With Overlap Steaming. At Cold Lake, late-cycle
data are currently insufficient to make comparisons on the long-
term recovery associated with alternative steaming strategies. For
the first four cycles or so, there appears to be little difference in
recovery with steaming strategy, as illustrated in the comparison
between Pads B and C; observed variations are essentially cor-
relatable with reservoir quality. However, one may expect that
steaming strategy could impact late-cycle recovery. One likely as-
sumption is that increased conformance of injected fluids and heat
in early cycles will lead to increased conformance and bitumen pro-
duction in late cycles.
One criterion of improved heat conformance is a delay in com-
munication as measured by a increase in the on-trend water-
breakthrough volumes; another is an increase of fluid movements
in the off-trend direction (northwest/southeast). One could argue
that this improvement is best achieved by 100% overlap steaming
over the whole field. Apart from the fact that insufficient steam
capacity exists to do this in a commercial project, 100% overlap
tends to cause increased leakoff of fluids closer to the wellbore be-
cause of the no-flow conditions at the pattern boundaries, which
concentrates the heat in the vicinity of the wellbore, reducing con-
formance. Thus, both facility and reservoir factors suggest that an
optimum degree of interwell interactions exists.
Some directional arguments can be made that overlap steaming
leads to increased conformance by considering the idealized case
of waterflooding a uniform, isothermal, horizontal light-oil
reservoir. Then, row steaming with no overlap corresponds to a
linedrive in light-oil displacement. The conformance expected be-
tween the rows at water breakthrough is a function of the aspect
ratio of the pattern and the mobility ratio. For the commercial

Pad BRow 1
300 200 1----1 300
Bitumen - ---
Water
Bitumen ----
Water
.
p
r::a.
WHTemp - - 200 ~ WHTemp - -
200E
~ ~

100 :5
: ~
a:
'0
.
I 100 :5
'0
::
~ ·S
ii: ....,'\j_.,. If\
I
1
~
o+----_~·_~_\~'_\~~!~~_-~-~-,~~~~-J----~~/~~!~\4--~f~!-------~o
o ~ ~ 1~
Pr<*luction Days

Fig. 5-Reductlon of Interwell communication resulting from Fig. 6-lntercolumn fluid communication from Pad C to B.
overlap steaming In Pad C.

SPE Reservoir Engineering, February 1990 21

 (a) Low Overlap

• ..• • • • • ·• • • • • · Row,_
1 ,__ ) (
-
• • • ·• • ·• • • • •
... "\
Aligned 2 r- ,-.1
• • • • • • • • • • • • ·• •1
3 I... - "\ '. . . - J
4 ,.-.1 r-
...
"

• • • • • • ·.... .... } (b) Alternating Low/High Overlap

·... . . ·.. . .
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Not Aligned

== On steam injection
Row
1
2
3
4
--)

(C
--) Time ....
possible couplets
--
--)
)

Fig. 7-Allgnment of megarow. Fig. 8-Steamlng patterns tending to create well couplets.

projects at Cold Lake, the aspect ratio is 170/100=1.7; the mo-
bility ratio can be assumed to be infinite because of the high vis-
cosity of the bitumen. Then, the areal conformance expected at
breakthrough is 35 % . 9 If the producer is converted to water in-
jection at water breakthrough, the conformance between wells would
increase, approaching 100% between rows if injection overlaps over
long periods. For the Cold Lake situation, however, fracturing,
leakoff into the matrix, and the small periods of overlap greatly
complicate the analysis. Nevertheless, overlap steaming clearly will
raise the pressure in the on-trend communication paths, spreading
the fluids perpendicular to the line joining injection rows, resulting
in greater conformance.
Field data also support the view that overlap steaming increases
conformance. Evidence comes from data of intercolunm fluid break-
through, which occurs from pads on injection to pads on production.
With moderate to high overlap between the steaming rows, Vbw
values in the range of 1000 to 2500 m 3 [6,300 to 15,700 bbl] are
observed. On the other hand, with no overlap between rows, little
intercolunm fluid communication has been observed even with in-
jection volumes up to 11 000 m 3 [69,000 bbl]. This demonstrates
that overlap steaming induces fluids to flow perpendicular to the
on-trend communication paths. (The intercolunm communication
in Fig. 6 is a result of the path created during partial overlap
steaming of Pad B during its first cycle. Once established, inter-
colunm communication can recur without overlap steaming.)
For high heat conformance, a given well would be expected to
communicate with all four of its neighbors; however, it is sometimes
observed that reservoir conformance becomes limited by the for-
mation of communicating well couplets. Then, the fluids and heat
flow along only one path between the wells. Such couplets can be
induced for a variety of reasons; it would appear that the stable
state of the fractured Cold Lake reservoir is that of communicating
couplets rather than uniform conformance. For example, field data
indicate that continued use oflow- or no-overlap steaming decreases
Vbw from 5000 to 6000 m 3 [31,400 to 37,700 bbl] to only 3000
to 4500 m 3 [18,900 to 28,300 bbl] after two or three cycles. Fur-
thermore, use of both high and low overlaps (Fig. 8) also tends
to induce communicating couplets. Finally, the reservoir heter-
ogeneities tend to direct the fluids to a preferred direction. Field
observations indicate that an overlap of about 50% is the practical
optimum for diverting fluids from the formation of couplets.
Numerical Simulations
To quantify the empirically derived overlapping megarow steaming
strategy, an effort was made to simulate the multiwell CSS process
numerically. The first objective was to compare the performance
of different degrees of overlap ranging from 100 to 0%. Because
of uncertainty about the CSS physics, the simulations were ex-
ploratory to a large extent. A commercial thermal simulator was
used, 10 with enhancements added to represent water/oil relative
permeability hysteresis behavior and the reservoir deformation as-
sociated with the unconsolidated sands.!! These enhancements
were previously used to match CSS behavior under the assumption
of single-well behavior or, in the terminology of this paper, 100%
overlap. 3
The simulations also face difficulties in adequately representing
the moving overlapping steaming sequence within the confines of
current grid-size limitations. Fig. 9 shows the grid used, which is
composed of four wells, each representing a row; steaming proceeds
sequentially from Wells 1 to 4. At the ends of the model where
Wells 1 and 4 are located, no-flow boundary conditions are im-
posed. We assume that for the end wells, the current injection
volumes are half those of Wells 2 and 3-Le., that fluids injected
at the end wells flow symmetrically to either side. However, the
partitioning of the fluids depends on the degree of overlap.
Therefore, to obtain adequate boundary conditions, an iterative
scheme would be required that uses the partitioning of fluids from
the interior wells to select the fluid partitioning at the end wells.

TABLE 1-RESERVOIR PROPERTIES USED

IN MULTIWELL CSS SIMULATION
-
Y ill IIIII IIIII III I x
Z
2

3
- Gridblock Saturations Permeabilities (md)
(z direction) Porosity Water Bitumen Horizontal Vertical
: :;} Perl 1 0:35 0.28 --0:72 1.500 """150
1 r-11m.rwI 2 0.345 0.31 0.69 1.500 150
Grid Block SIDa Well location. 7 3 0.35 0.30 0.70 1.500 150
x z 17." 14x3&, 17.5m z 5IOm Well x.y '- 0.34 0.30 0.70 1.500 150
y = 3,4, ...... 10.14m = 50m 1 1.1 4
z= 7.",. 3.3. 0"" =
3.3.5m 30m 2
3
8.1
11.1
5
6
0.345
0.345
0.29
0.30
0.71
0.70
1,500
1,500
150
150
4 11.1 7' 0.35 0.37 0.63 750 59
'Zone contains high concentration of shale/mud clasts and interbeds.
Fig. 9-Multlwell CSS simulation model grid dimensions.

22 SPE Reservoir Engineering, February 1990

 Legend
100% OverIap-
50% Overlap ----.
25% Overlap ••••••..•••
0'% Overlap' - - - -
2 4 6 8 10
Cycle number
Fig. 10-Slmulatlon of bitumen production with different
overlaps.
Because this has not yet been done, we emphasize the performance
of Wells 2 and 3 when making comparisons between different
overlaps.
The reservoir properties used for the simulations, summarized
in Table 1, were from Pad F, which experienced extensive interwell
communication during first-cycle steam stimulation. A horizontal
fracture layer was used to achieve steam injectivity; its properties
were adjusted to match the water-breakthrough volumes observed
at this pad in the first cycle. The model was then used to make pre-
dictions of reservoir performance for overlaps of 100, 50,25, and
0%. Fig. 10 shows the predictions for bitumen production nor-
malized by the 50%-overlap case. Fig. 11 summarizes the water-
breakthrough volumes.
The most interesting trend discernible relates to bitumen pro-
duction (Fig. 10). For early cycles, bitumen recovery appears not
to be particularly sensitive to the steaming strategy, with the 50%-
overlap case being marginally superior. This agrees with field ob-
servations. For the late cycles, however, the l00%-overlap case
results in a distinctly lower recovery than the lower-overlap cases.
With 100% overlap, the fluids and heat are retained closer to the
wellbore because of the no-flow boundary conditions encircling each
well. The decline in performance after Cycle 5 is related to the steam
reaching the top of the reservoir. For lower overlap, the heat is
distributed over a larger region, delaying steam override.
The need to incorporate field experience into our interpretation
of simulation results is highlighted by the simulation prediction that
0% overlap will yield the highest recoveries. In practice, the high
interwell communication associated with no overlap leads to high
well downtime because of sand-related pump failures. Furthermore
(and probably more important), the field data indicate that low- or
no-overlap steaming tends to form well-communication couplets,
so that injected steam sweeps the same volume of the reservoir be-
tween the two wells. Such couplets do not form as readily in the
simulations, probably because of either the absence in the model
of reservoir heterogeneities or an inadequate dynamic reservoir
failure model. Field experience indicates that an overlap of 50%
is the optimum to spread heat between the wells, to retard the ten-
dency of the reservoir to form couplets, and to minimize opera-
tionally disruptive well interactions.
The model predictions of breakthrough volumes in Fig. 11 are
in general agreement with trends observed in the field. The simu-
lations show that water-breakthrough volumes for a given cycle
decrease with decreasing overlaps. For the 50 %-overlap case after
Cycle 2, the simulations do not provide a water-breakthrough
volume because Vbw exceeds one-half the cycle steam volume;
similarly, for the 25%-overlap case after Cycle 8, Vbw is greater
than 75% of the cycle steam volumes. As in the bitumen-production
case, the breakthrough volumes in Fig. 11 require some judgment
that incorporates the tendency of the reservoir to form couplets that
decrease or increase Vbw for later cycles depending on whether the
well is part of a couplet.
SPE Reservoir Engineering, February 1990
Legend
o_ 50% Overlap
25% Overlap
_ 0'% Overlap
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Cycle number
Fig. 11-Fluld breakthrough with different overlaps.
Conclu.lon.
Field data support our main conclusion that CSS at Cold Lake is
a multiwell process primarily because steam injectivity is achieved
by formation fracturing. Analysis of the field data and numerical
simulations also result in the following conclusions.
1. A steaming strategy aimed at making CSS a single-well process
would initially require small steam-injection volumes.
2. On-trend communication can be reduced significantly by
steaming on-trend wells simultaneously-an overlap of 50% appears
to be optimum-which increases the off-trend movement of steam,
retards the formation of communicating couplets, and thus increases
conformance.
3. Early-cycle bitumen production is not affected adversely by
the extensive,interwell communication that occurs from random
steaming in the absence of major impact on well operability.
4. Numerical simulation of multiwell CSS requires further
refinement but indicates that optimum recovery is obtained with
less than 100% overlap.
Nomenclature
O(Ri.R/)= steaming overlap between Rows i and j
Vbh = volume of steam injected before heat arrival at
another well, m 3 [Mct]
Vbw = volume of steam injected before water arrival at
another well, m 3 [Mct]
Acknowledgment
The permission of ERCL to publish this paper is gratefully ac-
knowledged.
Reference.
1. Buckles, R.S.: "Steam Stimulation Heavy Oil Recovery at Cold Lake,
Alberta," paper SPE 7994 presented at the 1979 SPE California Regional
Meeting, Ventura, April 18-20.
2. Vittoratos, E.: "Interpretation of Temperature Profiles From the Steam-
Stimulated Cold Lake Reservoir," paper SPE 15050 presented at the
1986 SPE California Regional Meeting, Oakland, April 2-4.
3. Denbina, E.S. et al.: "Evaluation of Key Reservoir Drive Mechanisms
in the Early Cycles of Steam Stimulation at Cold Lake," paper SPE
16737 presented at the 1987 SPE Annual Technical Conference and
Exhibition, Dallas, Sept. 27-30.
4. Gontijo, I.E. and Aziz, K.: "A Simple Analytical Model for Simulating
Heavy Oil Recovery by Cyclic Steam in Pressure-Depleted Reservoirs,"
paper SPE 13037 presented at the 1984 SPE Annual Technical Con-
ference and Exhibition, Houston, Sept. 16-19.
5. Duerksen, I.H. et al.: "Performance and Simulation of a Cold Lake
Tar Sand Steam-Injection Pilot," IPT(Oct. 1984) 1781-90.
6. Pethrick, W.D.: "Numerical Modeling Optimization of Cyclic Steam
Stimulation in Cold Lake Oil Sands," paper presented at the 1986 Pe-
troleum Soc. of CIM Annual Meeting, Calgary, Iune 8-11.
23
 7. Closmann, P.J.: "Stearn Zone Growth in Cylindrical Channels," SPEI 51 Metric Conversion Factors
(Oct. 1984) 481-85.
8. Neuman, C.H.: "Discussion of Steam Zone Growth in Cylindrical bbl x 1.589 873 E-Ol
Channels," SPEI (Oct. 1984) 484. ft x 3.048* E-Ol
9. Morel-Seytoux, H.J.: "Unit Mobility Ratio Displacement Calculations OF (OF-32)/1.8
for Pattern Floods in Homogeneous Medium," SPEI (Sept. 1966) 217- md x 9.869 233 E-04
27; Trans., AIME, 237.
10. Coats, K.H.: "Simulation of Stearnflooding With Distillation and So- 'Conversion factor is exact. SPERE
lution Gas," SPEI (Oct. 1976) 235-47.
11. Beattie, C.I.: "Reservoir Simulation of Cyclic Steam Stimulation in Original SPE manuscript received for review March 23, 1988. Paper accepted for publi-
cation Sept. 15, 1988. Revised manuscript received April 26, 1989. Paper (SPE 17422)
the Cold Lake Oil Sands, " paper SPE 18752 presented at the 1989 SPE first presented at the 1988 SPE California Regional Meeting held in Long Beach, March
California Regional Meeting, Bakersfield, April 5-7. 23-25.

24 SPE Reservoir Engineering, February 1990