Pp. 2-8 IN-SITU COMBUSTION PILOT BASIC DESIGN AND LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS C. Gadelle Xytel Inc., Roebuck, USA When it must be decided to develop a field with an enhanced oil recovery method, first it is needed to have a reservoir characterization model of high quality. <...> In the case of an in-situ combustion field development, various patterns are considered; at the same time, duration for the combustion front to move from the injector to a producer is analyzed. <...> Field examples of various patterns are presented. <...> The amount of air to inject in case of dry combustion and of air and water in case of wet combustion has to be determined in order to design air compressors and water pumps. <...> The amount of air is a function of the volumetric sweep efficiency and of the oil and the matrix from the reservoir. <...> Lab experiments must be performed in the reservoir matrix with the reservoir oil to determine the air requirement, which is the amount of air needed to burn a unit volume of reservoir. <...> Then the flows of air and of water are determined, which allows the design of compressors and pumps. <...> The amount of oil produced is calculated taking into account the sweep efficiency in the different zones in front of the combustion. <...> A scheme of the production, treatment and storage for a pilot field test is shown. <...> In conclusion, a diagram shows the general guidelines for the preparation and implementation of field experiments using in-situ combustion. <...> Keywords: enhanced oil recovery, in-situ combustion, pilot, design, laboratory experiments DOI: http://doi.org/10.18599/grs.19.1.1 For citation: Gadelle C. In-situ Combustion Pilot Basic Design and Laboratory Experiments. <...> The mean recovery factor of the developed fields is around 35 % of the oil in place. <...> New methods – Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) – are the solution for increasing this recovery factor. <...> Different methods existing in EOR are classified in: - Chemical methods: polymers, polymers-surfactants, alkali-surfactant-polymer; - Miscible or partially miscible gas methods: hydrocarbons (lean or rich gas), carbon dioxide, nitrogen; - Thermal methods: steam injection, in-situ combustion; - Microbial methods. <...> Thermal methods are the best EOR methods for heavy, extra-heavy oils and bitumen. <...> The heat generated by the combustion is used to decrease the viscosity of the remaining This paper <...>