Effects of heavy oil cold production on Vp/Vs ratio

Duojun (Albert) Zhang, Laurence R. Lines

During the heavy oil cold production process, sand, gas, oil and water are produced by progressive cavity pumps, creating wormholes (high permeability channels) and foamy oil. These cold production effects create "footprints", and it is important to delineate the extent of these footprints in order to optimize enhanced heavy oil production. The seismic mapping of Vp/Vs variations provides an effective tool for both lithology discrimination and the delineation of production footprints. In this paper, we demonstrate that Vp/Vs ratios should decrease in the zones of cold heavy oil production.