Feasibility of heavy oil recovery in the U.S. midcontinent (Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma)

The Midcontinent of the United States (Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma) has three heavy oil resource areas: the carbonates of central and western Kansas, the Pennsylvanian Age consolidated sandstone reservoirs of the Tristate Heavy Oil Belt (southeastern Kansas, western Missouri, and northeast Oklahoma), and the unconsolidated or easily friable sand- stone reservoirs of south-central Oklahoma. The heavy oil resource volume of the carbonates is unknown and relatively untested because of the difficulty in producing viscous oil from low-permeability carbonates. Since the 1960s, the Tristate Heavy Oil Belt has been the site of numerous pilots and operations that tested many different techniques for oil production. The region was a proving ground for many thermal enhanced oil recovery projects (steam, cyclic steam, in situ combustion, hot solvent injection, etc.). Most of the projects produced more oil than primary production, but the geology of the formations limited significant economic oil production. The best opportunity for significant, economic heavy oil production is from the steeply dipping, unconsolidated or easily friable sandstone reservoirs of south-central Oklahoma. Several of these reservoirs are thicker, more continuous, have high permeability and can be exploited by using gravity drainage and steam to reduce oil viscosity. The Midcontinent is not anticipated tomore » become a significant heavy oil producer even if oil prices were significantly higher than $151 barrel because of the nature of the resource and the limited refining capability in the area. Local refineries were designed to process light sweet crude and have little heavy ends processing capability to accommodate additional heavy oil.« less