Steam channeling occurs during steam injection development of heavy oil reservoirs, severely impacting the effectiveness of steam injection development. However, there are currently no quantitative indicators for describing inter-well steam channeling pathways after multi-cycle steam huff and puff or for evaluating the degree of channeling, resulting in non-targeted and non-adaptive designs for on-site steam channeling control measures. To address this problem, physical simulation methods were used to study the causes and mechanisms of steam channeling pathway formation during heavy oil steam huff and puff development. The macro and micro morphology of steam channeling pathways were obtained through visualization experiments. A set of quantitative calculation theoretical models for inter-well channeling pathways in steam huff and puff and a method for evaluating the degree of steam channeling were established. Based on this, parameter calculations for steam channeling pathways were performed considering the reservoir properties and current steam channeling status in the Lou 1917 well block, northern area of Jinglou Block 1, Henan Oilfield. Further optimization of steam channeling control measures was conducted. The study results show that the channeling pathways dominate the main flow paths after inter-well steam channeling occurs. The areal sweep coverage overall exhibits a "wedge-shaped" distribution, with an areal sweep efficiency of approximately 43.16%. The steam channeling pathways show a tortuosity of about 1.2, with a total number of approximately 4-5. The permeability increase averages 3-5 times, the average diameter is about 368 μm, and the volume of steam channeling pathways accounts for about 8.5% of the swept volume. Since 2020, On-site implementation of steam channeling control technology reached 220 well-times. Cumulative oil production was 3.14×104 t, with a cumulative incremental oil of 5 327 t. The stage oil-steam ratio was 0.27, the recovery factor increased by 3.5 percentage points, and the output-input ratio reached 1.9∶1.0. this technology has been scaled up for application, achieving good development results and economic benefits, providing theoretical and technical support for the profitable development of heavy oil reservoirs.
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