A new screening tool for evaluation of steamflooding performance in Naturally Fractured Carbonate Reservoirs

Appropriate production method selection for Viscous Oil (e.g., Heavy Oil, Extra Heavy Oil, and Bitumen) Naturally Fractured Carbonate Reservoirs (VO NFCRs) mostly depends on the quality of the fluid and reservoir properties. Selection of a particular production method for a reservoir is generally evaluated through an exhaustive experimental, field pilot, and mathematical modeling approach. In the absence of robust and quick predictive tools, using connectionist techniques for performance prediction of a particular production method can be a valuable asset. In this study, a new screening tool is developed based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) optimized with Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to assess the performance of steamflooding in VO NFCRs. As expected, Recovery Factor (RF) and Cumulative Steam to Oil Ratio (CSOR) during steamflooding are highly affected by the magnitudes of oil saturation and viscosity. The developed PSO–ANN model, conventional ANN and statistical correlations were examined using real data. Comparison of the predictions and real data implies the superiority of the proposed PSO–ANN model with an absolute average error percentage < 6.5%, a determination coefficient (R2) > 0.98, and Mean Squared Error (MSE) < 0.06, in contrast with conventional ANN model and empirical correlations for prediction of RF and CSOR. This indicates a great potential for application of hybrid PSO–ANN models to screen Viscous Oil carbonate reservoirs for steamflooding.