THAI™ Technology

Air is injected into the reservoir, auto-igniting the oil creating a high temperature combustion zone (400-700+°c). The hot combusted air contacts the cold oil in front of the combustion zone causing the lighter oil fraction to be mobilized and the heavier fraction to be coked onto the reservoir sand, the coke is the fuel for the ongoing combustion reaction. The light oil and vaporized reservoir water are swept into the horizontal well and to surface. The combustion front moves at the rate of 23 cm a day or 100 meters per year.

As air injection continues, the oil drainage front broadens until it reaches the edge of the modeled zone. At this time, a continuous air bank is established and production is expected to be constant at 630 bopd. At steady state, the shape of the oil drainage front is constant, enabling control of the oxygen flux and assuring that the high temperature oxidation process predominates.

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