Experimental study on H2S and CO2 generation capacities of the Bohai bay heavy oil

Thermal recovery is a conventional technology for heavy oil development. During thermal oil recovery the reservoir could generate H2S and CO2. They will potentially threat the safety of downhole tubing regarding the sweet or sour corrosion. In some Bohai heavy oil fields CO2 and H2S under thermal recovery conditions lead to some corrosion problems of the tubing and equipment. Therefore, to determine the corrosive gas generation capacity is crucial for anti-corrosion design of downhole tubing and casing. Heavy oil samples from Bohai, China were experimentally studied for their pyrolysis characteristics using high-temperature-high-pressure autoclaves. The gases were collected when autoclaves cooled down to the in situ formation temperature. Effects of temperature, water chemistry and core mineral on corrosive gas generation were investigated. The results show that total pressure increase significantly when temperature reached 250 degrees C-280 degrees C under the single heavy oil condition. The additional water facilitates the reaction process, after more SO42- added in the mimic formation water, higher H2S content is obtained. Under the condition of multiphase of oil, formation water and cores, both of the H2S and CO2 content increase obviously, and the cores' effect on CO2 is greater than H2S. Anti-corrosion design usually concerns only the highest corrosive gas concentration without further analysis. The highest concentration does not always correspond to the best corrosive gases generation capacities of heavy oil. Comprehensive analysis of both the total pressure of reaction process and the quality of the reaction heavy oil is carried out, then the corrosive gases volume per unit mass of heavy oil is calculated. These can determine the strongest corrosive formation environment and the maximum gases generation capacities of heavy oil.