Modeling of EM assisted oil recovery

An algorithm for rigorous analysis of electromagnetic (EM) heating of heavy oil reservoirs is presented in the paper. The algorithm combines an FDTD-based EM solver with a reservoir simulator, utilizing the fact that the two simulators operate at completely different time scales. The two simulators also utilize different grids. Special attention needs to be taken when interpolating the values between the two grids to avoid occurrence of non-physical effects. An example of a vertical 50-m long dipole antenna heating a heavy oil reservoir in northern Alberta, Canada is presented.