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Al-Muatasim Al-Bahlani

PhD (2011)

Current position: Apex Engineering

Research topic: Improvement of Heavy-Oil Recovery by Steamflooding and SAGD in Sandstone and Carbonate Reservoirs

Thesis

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With around 7 trillion barrels reserves and recent increase in oil demand, there is no doubt that there would be tremendous effort on the development of heavy-oil/bitumen (HO-B) reservoirs in the next decades. The in-situ recovery of HO-B is still not a simple process and there are many technical challenges accompanied with it. Two major techniques, namely thermal and miscible, have been considered in the HO-B development, along with several other auxiliary methods (chemical, gas, electromagnetic heating etc.) for different well configurations, steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) being the most popular among others. Miscible techniques did not yet go to a high commercial level, while thermal techniques have by far a stable foundation in the industry. Despite remarkable amount of laboratory experiments and computational studies on the thermal techniques for HO-B, especially SAGD, there was no extensive and critical literature review of the knowledge gained over almost three decades. The first part of Al-Muatasim's research involves in a critical review of the status of the SAGD process (SPE 113283). This will shed light on the deficiencies and limitations of the process, further development areas, and new research topics. 

His current research focuses on enhancement of steam recovery from carbonate matrix. A serious of experiments will be conducted to propose techniques to improve the efficiency of the steam process. 

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Publications:

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  1. Al-Bahlani, A.M. and Babadagli, T.: “SAGD Laboratory Experimental and Numerical Simulation Studies: A Review of Current Status and Future Issues,” J. Petr. Sci. and Eng., vol. 68, no. 3-4, 2009, 135-150. (Ranked 3rd (as of Jan. 2010) and 5th (as of Jan. 2011) in the top ten of the most downloaded papers).

  2. Al-Bahlani, A.M. and Babadagli, T.: “Field Scale Applicability and Efficiency Analysis of Steam-Over-Solvent Injection in Fractured Reservoirs (SOS-FR) Method for Heavy-Oil Recovery,” J. Petr. Sci. and Eng., vol. 78, 2011, 338-346.

  3. Al-Bahlani, A.M. and Babadagli, T.: “SOS-FR (Solvent-Over-Steam Injection in Fractured Reservoir) Technique as a New Approach for Heavy-Oil and Bitumen Recovery: An Overview of the Method,” Energy and Fuels, vol. 25, 2011, 4528-4539.

  4. Al-Bahlani, A.M. and Babadagli, T.: “Visual Analysis of Diffusion Process During Oil Recovery Using Hydrocarbon Solvents and Thermal Methods,” Chem. Eng. J, vol. 181-182, 557-569, 2012.

  5. Al-Bahlani, A.M. and Babadagli, T.: “Laboratory Scale Experimental Analysis of Steam-Over-Solvent Injection in Fractured Reservoirs (SOS-FR) for Heavy-Oil Recovery,” J. Petr. Sci. and Eng., vol. 84-85, 42-56, 2012.

  6. Al-Gosayir, M., Leung, J., Babadagli, T. and Al-Bahlani, A.M.: “Optimization of SOS-FR (Steam-Over-Solvent Injection in Fractured Reservoirs) Method Using Hybrid Techniques:  Testing Cyclic Injection Case,” J. Petr. Sci. and Eng., vol. 110, 74-84, 2013.

  7. Al-Gosayir, M., Babadagli, T., Leung, J., and Al-Bahlani, A.M.: “In-situ recovery of heavy-oil from fractured carbonate reservoirs: Optimization of steam-over-solvent injection method,” J. Petr. Sci. and Eng., vol. 130, 77-85, 2015.

  8. Al-Bahlani, A.M. and Babadagli, T.: “A Critical Review of the Status of SAGD:  Where Are We and What is Next?” SPE 113283, 2008 SPE/AAPG Western Reg. Meet., Bakersfield, CA, 31 March-2 April (Ranked 4th in the top ten of the most downloaded papers – SPE Library One Petro, as of Jan. 2010).

  9. Al-Bahlani, A.M. and Babadagli, T.: “Heavy-Oil Recovery in Naturally Fractured Reservoirs with Varying Wettability by Steam Solvent Co-Injection,” SPE 117626, 2008 SPE Int. Thermal Oper. and Heavy-Oil Symp., Calgary, AB, Canada, 20-23 Oct.

  10. Al-Bahlani, A.M. and Babadagli, T.: “Steam-Over-Solvent Injection in Fractured Reservoirs (SOS-FR) for Heavy-Oil Recovery: Experimental Analysis of the Mechanism,” SPE 123568, 2009 SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference & Exhibition, Jakarta, Indonesia, 4-6 Aug.

  11. Al-Bahlani, A.M. and Babadagli, T.: “Laboratory and Field Scale Analysis of Steam-Over-Solvent Injection in Fractured Reservoirs (SOS-FR) for Heavy-Oil Recovery,” SPE 124047, 2009 SPE Annual Tech. Conf. and Exh., New Orleans, LA, 4-7 Oct.

  12. Al-Bahlani, A.M. and Babadagli, T.: “Efficiency Analysis of Steam-Over-Solvent Injection in Fractured Reservoirs (SOS-FR) Method for Heavy-Oil Recovery,” SPE 132458, 2010 SPE Western North America Reg. Meet., Anaheim, CA, 26-30 May.

  13. Al-Bahlani, A.M. and Babadagli, T.: “An Overview of the SOS-FR (Steam-Over-Solvent Injection in Fractured Reservoirs) Method and Its Applicability in Heavy-Oil Fields,” 2011 World Heavy Oil Congress, Edmonton, AB, 15-17 Mar. pp 6.

  14. Al-Gosayir, M., Babadagli, T., Leung, J., and Al-Bahlani, A.M.: “Design of SOS-FR (Steam-Over-Solvent Injection in Fractured Reservoirs) Method for Heavy-Oil Recovery Using Hybrid Optimization Framework,” SPE 164306, 2013 18th Middle East Oil and Gas Show and Conf. (MEOS), Manama, Bahrain, March 10-13.

  15. Al-Bahlani, A.M. and Babadagli, T.: “Applicability of SOS-FR (Steam-Over-Solvent Injection in Fractured Reservoirs) Method for Heavy-Oil Recovery from Deep Fractured Carbonates,” IPTC 13023, 2009 Int. Petr. Tech. Conf. (IPTC), Doha, Qatar, 7-9 Dec.

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