Abstract

In this work,  the temperature was found to be the best controlling parameter for deciding where the fine grid was required in the hybrid stream and combustion process for oil sands recovery.  A threshold value of 35 ºC between grid blocks was found to be the best criterion for the amalgamation parameter. An approximate 17-fold of speedup in computation time was achieved by using proper dynamic gridding in this work. The cumulative water usage in hybrid process was reduced, ranging from 20% to 27%, while the cumulative oil production remained the same. The same reduction in cSOR was achieved. Further studies will be performed to investigate the geological uncertainties on hybrid steam/combustion process.