T. P.
8130
Calculation of Crude-Oil Recoveries by Steam Injection
BOBBY L. LANDRUM*
JAMES E. SMITH"
JUNIOR MEMBERS AIME
PAUL B. CRAWFORD
MEMBER AIME
ABSTRACT
A method is presented by which the displacement ef-
ficiency of a steam-injection process may be determined.
The method consists of a determination of the posi-
tion of the steam front at a particular time and the
application of the Buckley-Leverett theory to the hot
and cold regions of the reservoir with the appropriate
hot or cold fluid properties. A uniform, linear flow
system is assumed for this study.
The method is applied to a number of reservoir con-
ditions. The primary properties which affect the results
of a steam-injection process are the oil viscosities at
steam and reservoir temperatures, injection rate, pay
thickness and oil saturation.
The efficiency of steam injection is compared with
that of water injection for a lO-acre, linearly flooded
reservoir. In reservoirs where the oil viscosity is about
35 times the water viscosity, the steam process yields
recoveries about 20 per cent higher than the water
flood. Where the oil viscosity is near 500 cp, the steam
process may recover from three to four times as much
oil as a water flood.
INTRODUCTION
In a previous paper,' a method was suggested for
evaluating a steam-injection process. Emphasis was
placed upon the determination of the steam-front posi-
tion in the reservoir at various times. In the present
paper, the displacement process is studied in more de-
tail. The approach is essentialIy that employed by Jor-
dan, Rayne and MarshalI' in their study of hot-water
injection.
The steam-injection process is quite complex, and an
exact description of the process has not been found;
however, a qualitative description can be made. When
a quantity of steam is injected into a relatively cold
reservoir, the leading edge of the steam front contin-
ually flows into cool sand, and some steam condenses.
As more and more steam condenses, a ban;'; of con-
densed water will form which is augmented by dis-
placed connate water. The reservoir may be divided
in three regions-( 1) a region containing displaced
fluids at reservoir temperatures, (2) a region contain-
Original manuscript received in Society of Petroleum Engineers
office Sept. 15, 1959. Revised manuscript received June 24, 1960.
Paper presented at the Joint SPE-TPRC Oil Recovery Symposium
on Southwest Texas, Oct. 29-30, 1959, in Corpus Christi, Tex.
':'Present address: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio.
**Present address: Railroad Commission of Texas Abilene Tex.
lReferences given at end of paper. •.
SPE 1389-G
VOL. 219. 1960
TEXAS PETROLEUM RESEARCH COMMITTEE
COllEGE STATION, TEX.
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ing water at reservoir temperature and (3) a region
occupied by steam. The reasons for the lack of a region
of hot water or oil of any appreciable size have been
discussed.'
A method has been presented by which the location
of the steam front can be determined even when heat
losses to the regions surrounding the reservoir are
sizable compared with the amount of heat injected. It
remains to show the effectiveness of steam injection in
increasing the ultimate oil recovery. To illustrate the
technique for determining the increase in displacement
efficiency and, hence, the increase in ultimate produc-
tion, two sets of hypothetical reservoir conditions will
be studied in detail.
THEORETICAL FLUID DISPLACEMENT
The displacement of one fluid by another from a
porous medium has received much attention in the
literature. The basic equation in one dimension was
first presented by Buckley and Leverett' as
[~~ 1 Ow = ~ [ ~~: 1'" . (1 )
which applies when oil is displaced by water.
The standard procedure is based on th:: determina-
tion of the velocities of zones of equal fluid saturation.
The velocities depend on the fluid viscosities according
to
f", - - - - - - (2)
j + ~'fL'"
I\II'P,,,
In addition, it can be shown' that
:..',.x=..9.: dfu> t:..t. (3)
fA dS"
Similar equations apply for the steam-oil system.
Since the viscosity of oil is dependent upon tem-
perature, the velocities of zones of equal saturation will
depend upon temperature.
In the present study, the "hot" and "cold" portions
of the reservoir will be treated independently using the
fluid properties which pertain at the respective tem-
peratures. In general, zones of constant oil saturation
will move faster in the hot than in the cold region. This
result is an abrupt increase in oil saturation at the
steam front and, ultimately, a net increase in displaced
oil.
The position of the steam front must, therefore, be
251
known. It has been shown that, for a linear system, the and steam in the flow stream may be determined for
steam-front position x at times! is given by various water and steam saturations. Laboratory meas-
t urements then must yield specific values of }La/ fl.w at

x = f v"d! (4)
flooding conditions. Two values of }La!}L", will be used
here; i.e., fl.a! fl.., = 33.7, and}La!}Lw = 536. For both
cases, fl.a! }L" is taken at 10.8.
o
where Fig. 3 presents the fraction of water in the flow
stream vs the water saturation. The differentiated curve
R"p" (L + c., A T) - F
v,, = ~~--~~~~~~~--~~=~~--~
Wh[</>p,,(L + cw.A T) + c,p, A T(1 - </»1
(5) 1000'~------~

and
k!::.TR tv,
F = "

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h</>V Tra [l+ p,c.!::.T(1-</»
p, </> (L" + c !::. T)
W

(6)
Hence, the hot and cold zones can be calculated for 100
any particular time. It is important to note that the
steam-front velocity is not constant even for a linear
system. The time-dependent term arises because of heat
losses to surrounding areas. ~
;;1 ~
0

The velocity of the fluids in the cold region depends

on the velocity of the steam front and the rate at which
steam condenses at the front. The latter term is ex- 10
pressed by Eq. 7 when the residual liquid saturations
are small.
Rate of Water p.,
Condensing = (R" - v,, Wh </»- p",
.. (7)
Thus, it is possible to determine the position of the
steam front and the fluid saturation of both the hot and
0.1 "'"0----"=--~~~!----h------d.----A---d70
cold zones at any given time. In the next section, a
possible procedure is given for applying the method
outlined previously. FIG. I-RELATIVE PERMEABILITY DATA (STEAM-
OIL SYSTEM).

PROCEDURE
1.0 .\
The following procedure may be used to estimate
the results of a steam-injection process. However, it is
stressed that a number of simplifying assumptions have .9 .09
been made, particularly that the analysis pertains to a
one-dimensional or linear-displacement process, 660 ft lJ.o/IJ. st =\0.8
X 660 ft with a 28-per cent-porosity rock. .8 .08

1. The relative permeabilities k",/ ko and k.,/ ko must

first be determined in the laboratory for both water-oil
.
- •.7 .07
(!)
and steam-oil systems for the particular reservoir sand z
and fluids to be flooded. For the present examples, it is i
0
assumed arbitrarily that k.,/ ko and k",/ ko vary with the ii·6 .06
oil saturation as shown in Table 1 and Fig. 1. The :.
<t
steam being a gas, the curve is the familiar k g / ko curve. ILl

2. From Eq. 2, the variation of the fraction of water tii· 5

u-
0
z
.05
-..,-,-..,.
0.4 .04
i=
TABLE l-RELATIVE-PERMEABILITY DATA u
<t
Per Cent k., kw a:
Water Saturation '""k;;- -ko u- .3 .03
23 ---0:010 -----0:0-
26 0.020 0.013
30 0.055 0.028
34 0.125 0.046 .2 .02
38 0.27 0.072
42 0.48 0.113
47 0.73 0.205
51 1.44 0.322
57 3.1 0.693 .I .0\
61 5.1 1.36
63 8.8 2.08
65 13.9 3.67
67 22 7.90 0
69
0 \00
35 18.0
71 52 50.0
72 74 100.0

FIG. 2-FRACTIONAL-FLOW CURVES FOR STEAM.

252 PETROLEUM TRANSACTIONS, AIME

dfw/dS", was obtained by numerical differentiation. The Markedly different values would be obtained for a
data apply where jko/ p, .. = 536. radial system. However, the results should give an in-
dication of the efficiency of the displacement process
Fig. 4 presents information similar to that shown in
encountered in a steam flood.
Fig. 3 except that jko/P,w = 33.7.
3. Before the values of the fluid saturations for a 1.0r--------~----,
particular position and time can be determined, the
steam-front location must be determined from Eq. 5.
The results of such a calculation are shown in Fig. 5 .9
for four sets of conditions.
Fig. 5 presents the velocity of the heat front vs in- .8 4.0
jection time for various injection rates and sand thick-
nesses. The position of the steam front at any time t •
can be obtained by a simple integration of Eq. 5, as -'.7
~ Il-o/IL. =33.7

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indicated by Eq. 7, or numerically measuring the o
..J
areas under the curves in Fig. 5. In general the veloci- IL.
0:. 6 3.0
ties decrease with time because heat losses increase w
with time. Results of the direct integration of Eq. 5
are shown in Fig. 6 for the same reservoir conditions
~ sl_..
.J .5 ...
<t 't:I't:I
used in Fig. 5. z
o
4. Eq. 3 then can be used to determine the position ~
~.4 2.0
of a specific saturation zone for some time t. The value 0:
IL.
of dfw/dS w for various values of S", is shown in Figs.
2, 3 and 4. Care must be exercised to insure that .3
the proper hot and cold fluid properties are used
for the saturation determination for a specific position
and time. Results of a number of saturation calcula- .2
tions are presented in the next section.

RESULTS
The procedure presented has been used to study the
steam-flooding characteristics and fluid properties. The
results are presented in Figs. 7 through 15. One should
bear in mind that these results apply to a linear system. FIG. 4-FRACTIONAL-FLOW CURVES FOR WATER.

L0r-----------------------,
~
1.0 .20 ~
£.8 RST=STEAM RATE, bbls jday
I-
z STEAM INJECTION
o
0: 500 psi a 467°F
.9 .18
..'"
"- .S
I-

:I:

~.4
.8 .16 U)

'"
;::
~.2r_~~~~--====~~~~~~~~---
.7 .14 '">
lLo/lL. =536
~
~' f. TIME-DAYS
0
~.6 .12
FIG. 5-STEAM·FRONT VELOCITY.

~
0:
W
l-
~.5
ds.
.lO~ ~
sl s
..J SOO
<t
z
~.4 .08
<.> 500
<t
0:
IL.
.3 .06 400

~oSTEAM RATE. bblsjday

300
.2 .04
STEAM INJECTION
500 psia 467°F
LINEAR SYSTEM
.I .02 ~o28.8%.LoSSOft.. WoSSOft.

0
0 100 5000
TIME-DAYS

FIG. 3-FRACTIONAL-FLOW CURVES FOR WATER. FIG. 6-STEAM-FRONT POSITION.

VOL. 219, 1960 253

 Fig. 7 presents results which apply when a linear saturation is 23 per cent. In addition, it is assumed
reservoir, 25-ft thick and 660-ft wide, is flooded with that the corresponding data and results presented in
steam at 500 psi and 467°F at a rate of 10,000 (volu- Table 1, Figs. 1,2,4, 5 and 6 apply.
metric) BID. The saturation of the displacing phase, The most pronounced effect shown in Fig. 7 is the
water in the cold zone and steam in the hot zone, is presence of an abrupt change in the displacing phase
plotted vs the distance from the well in feet. Each of saturation at the steam front. A standard water flood
the curves applies to, a different injection time meas- occurs in the region ahead of the steam front, with an
ured from the start of the flood. It is assumed that the oil saturation which increases with time. Behind the
porosity is 28.8 per cent and that the initial water front, the oil saturation is greatly reduced. The steam
front itself is at the vertical portion of each curve.
100 A decrease in residual oil saturation of about 16 per
cent relative to that of the primary water flood is in-
9000
dicated for all times. Recall that an initial water flood
is accomplished by displaced connate water and con-

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densed steam.
A more direct comparison of the results of a steam
flood with that of a water flood is desirable. One pos-
sible comparison is presented in Fig. 8. Cumulative
oil production is plotted vs time in days. The steam-
injection rate is 5,000 BID, and the water-injection
rate is 325 BID, which is the equivalent rate at which
water could be injected at the same pressure. Refer to
Ref. 1 for more details on the equivalent rate.
INJECTION RATE 10,000 bbts/doy The cumulative production from the water drive is
L = 660 FT PAY THICKNESS 25 ft. I
IO~ w: 660 FT lJ..oIlJ-w• 337 I seen to exceed that from the steam drive for the first
10 ACRE SPACING j.L /).1. = 108
211z years. Thereafter, the steam process yields a higher
-- ----,oio ____ ~I__ ~ __ ~_st____L_~
200 300 400 500 600-
J recovery. The increased recovery after 10 years is about
OISTANCE-FT
100,000 bbl, which represents an increase of about 20
FIG. 7-Sn:A,\I SATURATION PROFILES. per cent over that of the water flood. It should be kept
in mind that this chart relates recoveries in a Iinear-
700r------------ displacement process for two somewhat arbitrarily

'"
...J
It)
It)

u.. 500
o
'"oz
~400
600

l chosen rates. One may expect that a similar chart for

a radial or pattern-type flood would show different re-
coveries. However, the relative effects due to displace-
ment differences should not differ appreciably from
those presented.
Similar results for the same reservoir conditions, ex-
::>
o
:z: cept that the steam-injection rate is 20,000 BID, are
t-
"" 300
presented in Figs. 9 and 10. The primary effect is that
z
o
EQUlVALENT WATER RATE the cumulative-oil curves approach a maximum much
tzoo
::>
WATER INJECTION RATE:: 325 bbls /d'J.Y
STEAM INJECTION RATE:: 5000 obis/day
more rapidly. In addition, since heat losses occur for
o
o
Q:
PAY THICKNESS = 25ft a shorter period, the efficiency of the steam process is
"- iJ-o/iJ-." (~: increased to such a degree that, for all times, the steam
~o/~s( process produces a higher cumulative production than
-~20~0~0--~OVO~-~4~OC~O~-~5~000 the standard water flood. For example, the time re-
quired to produce 500,000 bbl of oil by steam injection
TIME -DAYS
is about 2,300 and 500 days at 10,000 and 20,000 BID
FIG. 8-COMPARISON BET WEE); CALCULATE[) STEAM A:\[) of steam, respectively. The advantages of higher rates
WATERFLOODI:-iG RECOVERIES. are even more pronounced for thinner pays.
100 700r----------~

600

500

ST AM INJECTION
400

300 EOUIVALENT WAT R INJECT I I'

WATER INJECTION RATE. 1300bbls/doy

STEAM INJECTION RATE' 20,000 bbls/doy 1

PAY THICKNESS • 25 It I
])..,/iJ-.' 33.7
INJECTION RATE I
20,000 bbls day.
20 PAY THICKNESS 25 ft 108 I
Il-o/u.." 33.7

I:[____ ~_~ _
100 200
_____L __
300
DISTANCE-FT
~_~~~
400 500
108 _LJ
600
o --d=--~_~I
1000 2000
,----~
3000 4000
____ ~5000
TIME-DAYS

FIG. 10--COMPARISON BETWEEN CALCULATED STEAM AN[)

FIG. 9-STEAM SATURATION PROFILES. W ATERFLOODlNG RECOVERIES.

25<1. PETROLEUM TRANSACTIONS, AIME

 Fig. 11 presents results for an injection rate of 5,000
BID of steam. Comparison with Figs. 7 and 9 again
shows that the lower rate is less efficient than the high
rate.
Fig. 12 presents results for a lO-ft thick reservoir
into which steam is injected at a rate of 4,000 BID,
which is the same rate in barrels per day per foot of
pay as that used in Fig. 7. The principle effect is that
longer times and, hence, larger quantities of steam are
required to obtain equivalent oil displacements or
steam flooding. The times required to obtain steam
breakthrough 660 ft from the injection well are about
2,300 and 2,900 days for the 25-and lO-£t reservoirs,
respectively.
in Fig. 16. At all times, the cumulative oil production
for steam injection exceeds that for a water flood by
a factor of at least four.
DISCUSSION
The results presented in the previous section indicate
the characteristics which may be expected of a steam-
injection process. The position and size of the steam
region were first obtained from an equation based on
the conservation of heat relationship which included
heat losses to surroundings. The Buckley-Leverett me-
thod was then followed, and the proper hot and cold
fluid properties were applied to obtain the velocities

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The previous saturation distributions have been for
reservoirs containing a medium-gravity crude. Fig. 13
presents results for steam injection into a reservoir con-
taining a viscous crude; i.e., p../ p.., = 536. The steam
portions of the figure do not appear appreciably
changed. The result is not surprising because both light
and heavy crudes have about the same viscosities at
very high temperatures, near 500°F! In no region does
water flooding appear because the velocities of the
saturations above the immobile water saturation are
slower than that of the steam front. The saturations for
a water flood at "equivalent" water rates are presented
in Figs. 14 and 15, for reference.
The steam and equivalent waterflood processes are
compared in a chart of cumulative oil produced vs time
of constant fluid-saturation regions.
Increased recoveries over a standard water flood
are indicated for all conditions studied except for the
initial periods when thin sands are flooded. An increase
by about 20 per cent is noted for a medium-weight
crude. Steam injection in reservoirs containing a heavy
crude produced increased oil recoveries by a factor of
three or more, depending on the particular conditions.
These results indicate that steam injection should be
regarded as a possible supplementary recovery method.
However, a number of assumptions are made which
should be given full consideration before applying this
method to a specific reservoir. The final decision as to
the merits of the steam-injection process is an economic
loolrl----
1

"
:'~~::~~~~::::~~========~~50~00~~,=~~
·000 3000
~
1t60
~
U
~50

"
~40
z
°
~30
~
~zo
zo - INJECTION RATE 5000 bbls/day
PAY THICKNESS ZS ft.
lJ.o/U... 33.7 10
10 -
fLo/fL ' 10.8
st
L ___ ~I,
100
__~~I __ ~~--~--~__~~~
200 300
DISTANCE-FT

FIG. 13-STEAM SATURATION PROFILES.

FIG. ll-STEAM SATURATION PROFILES.

I00r---~-- I()O~---- ---

"0

80

50
.0

30

INJECTION FIAT!;. 4000 bbl'jday 20 WATER INJECTION RATE 650bbls/day

PAY THICKNESS lOft. PAY THICKNESS 25ft
337 IJ.gJ\J..' 337
Il.o/I-L.'
10.8 10,000 bbl,!day
I f.Lo/fJ. st •
lot R,t"

L _____ l ___ ~ __~----,

o
__L ____L
100 200
___ J_______ I.I..oo'ofL st • ----='50=0-'O-·---,.""oo~...,j
300
300 400 500 600
DISTANCE-FT DISTANCE-FT

FIG. 12-STEAM SATURATION PROFILES. FIG. 14--WATER SATURATION PROFILES.

VOL. 219. 1960 255

 80 700 -

10

500 - -

400
STEAM INJECTION

300 STEAM INJECTION RATE 10,000 bbls /day

PAY THICKNESS 25 ft

200
U.,/u..." 536
WATER INJECTION RATE 650bblsjday

650bbls/day I
25ft
10 Uo/JJ.w' 536

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Rst = 10,000 bbl/day
fJ. olf.L st ' 10.8 TIME-DAYS
oL-------~,O~0------~20~O~--- 300 400 500
FIG. 16--COMPARISON BETWEEN CALCULATED STEAM AND
DISTANCE - FT.
WA TERFLOODl'iG RECOVERIES.
FIG. IS-WATER SATURATION PROFILES.

t = time
one, and additional costs are involved which must be T = temperature
considered. V,t = velocity of steam front
fJ. = viscosity
NOMENCLATURE w = width of the flood
A = area x = general distance variable
a = thermal diffusivity of the surroundings
c, = specific heat of the reservoir sand ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
c'" specific heat of the water
/, = fraction of steam flowing The authors wish to express their appreciation to the
f., = fraction of water flowing Texas Petroleum Research Committee for permission
F = defined by Eq. 6 to publish the results of this paper.
h = pay thickness
k = thermal conductivity REFERENCES
k. = oil permeability
1. Landrum, Bobby L., Grover, T. M. and Crawford, Paul B.:
k .. = steam permeability "Thermal Recovery Methods, Part IV-Reservoir Tempera-
kw = water permeability ture Distribution During Oil Recovery by Steam Injection".
L = heat of condensation TPRC Report No. AM 58-13.
Q, = rate ., Buckley, S. E. and Leverett, M. C.: "Mechanism of Fluid
Q= flow rate Displacement in Sands", Trans., AIME (194]) 146, 107.
Q 1M = cumulative volume injected ;1. Jordan, J. K., Rayne, .T. R. and Marshall, S. W. III: "A
<p = porosity Calculation Procedure for Estimating the Production His-
R" = volumetric steam rate tory During Hot Water Injection in Linear Reservoirs",
presented at the 20th Technical Conference on Petroleum
p" = density of steam Production, The Pennsylvania State U., University Park,
p .. = density of water Pa. (May 9-10, 1957).
S, = steam saturation 4. Nelson, W. L.: Petroleum Refinery Engineering, McGraw-
S., = water saturation Hill Book Co., Inc., Second Edition (1941) 125. ***

256 PETROLEUM TRANSACTIONS, AIME