Geothermal energy for enhanced heavy oil recovery: Reducing costs and emissions

Geothermal energy offers a promising alternative for enhanced heavy oil recovery, reducing operational costs and environmental impact compared to conventional thermal methods, such as steam injection and electric heating. This study introduces a novel closed-loop geothermal system (Model R) that utilizes subsurface conduction-based heat through a dual-well design, employing water as the heat transfer fluid medium to reduce oil viscosity. The model integrates coupled multiphase flow and heat transfer calculations, with its wellbore heat transmission analysis validated against the analytical formulation of Willhite in 1967. Results for an Orinoco heavy oil reservoir (8° API gravity, 1915 cP viscosity) demonstrate that the system increased production by 50 % (from 60 m³/d to 90 m³/d) and achieved up to an 83 % CO₂-equivalent emission reduction compared to electric heating processes. This approach provides a sustainable and cost-effective framework for extracting extra-heavy oil, with potential scalability to similar conditions.