No. 1998.

056

Recovery Methods for Heavy Oil and Bitumen in the 21st Century
Eddy E. Isaacs, Alberta Research Council, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Ted Cyr,
Alberta Department of Energy, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Chu Hsi, Consultant,
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; and Surindar Singh, Alberta Research Council,
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Abstract Introduction
The heavy oil and bituminous reservoirs of Western Canada Global production of conventional oil is expected to decline
represent one of the largest accumulations of hydrocarbons in within the next ten years.1 The world’s remaining oil resources
the world. These resources remain difficult to extract and are in the more-difficult-to-produce deposits of heavy oil and
upgrade into marketable transportation fuels. Despite the bitumen. These represent more than double the volume of the
seemingly insurmountable technical and economic odds, in conventional resources (Figure 1) and are on the verge of a
thirty years, heavy oil and oil sands share of the total annual major growth period.The switch from dependence on conven-
oil production in Canada has increased from 2%–51%. A tional oil to heavy oil and bitumen has been most dramatic in
large part of this phenomenal growth is due to surface mining Canada, which contains the bulk of the world’s bitumen
where technological improvements have reduced the produc- resources.2 In 1966 heavy oil and bitumen accounted for 2%
tion costs of synthetic crude by a factor of two. of the Canadian production. Thirty years later production of
In contrast, early applications of in situ technologies have heavy oil and bitumen represent more than 50% of the total
converted very little of the potential resources to economic Canadian production (Figure 2). Most of the Western Cana-
reserves. Cyclic-steam, steam-drive and combustion processes dian heavy oil is produced in situ and diluted with condensate
which have been successfully applied for decades elsewhere, for shipment to markets in the U.S. and Eastern Canada. In
most notably California, could not, in general, be economi- contrast, most of the bitumen is extracted by surface mining
cally applied to the more challenging Canadian resources. and upgraded to a high value synthetic crude oil. As we move
More recent development of technologies for horizontal drill- towards the new millennium there have been announcements
ing and accurate placement of wells, combined with advances of some U.S. $15 billion in new capital spending to increase
in reservoir geophysics and sophisticated numerical modeling Canadian production of heavy oil and synthetic crude oil. The
have been responsible for reducing the estimated costs of pro- optimism is based on both technology breakthroughs that have
duction by a factor of three. The most promising recovery pro- significantly reduced costs of production and new fiscal
cesses include steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) and regimes that provide lower and more predictable risks. The
gas and solvent processes, which use horizontal wells and harsh reality is that for the near-future heavy oil and bitumen
take advantage of natural gravity forces. will likely remain a high-cost, low margin commodity. The
This presentation will provide an overview of the heavy oil question, however, is not if large expansion of heavy oil and
and oil sands resources in Western Canada and focus on both bitumen production will occur but when?
current and new projects and technologies in surface mining In this paper we examine production technology advances
and in situ operations. Processes will be discussed in terms of that have led to current industry optimism. We describe these
their future potential as well as their shortcomings, which will advances, assess their strengths, and identify challenges yet to
need to be overcome. We will chart the anticipated course for be overcome. We attempt to bring into focus the technologies
the continued growth of the heavy oil and oil sands industry in mostly likely to provide the best growth prospects for the
Canada. Special emphasis will be placed on advanced hori- industry in the 21st Century.
zontal well technology and the research and development
efforts that will be needed in order to double production from
these resources over the next 10–20 years.
Bitumen Deposits and Recovery
Technologies
The bulk of the world’s bitumen resources occur in the West-
ern Canada Sedimentary Basin, mainly in three areas — Atha-
basca, Cold Lake, and Peace River. Each reservoir has unique
and variable geological and physical characteristics.

1
Mining the Oil Sands Deposits bitumen will be transported for upgrading for niche mar-
The Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (AEUB) estimates3 kets.
the initial volume-in-place for the Athabasca deposits to be • Mobile Mine-Site Extraction Technology will emerge as
213,000 million m3. Due to geological, environmental and the key technological breakthrough of the future that will
technological factors, only a fraction of this is considered to alter the paradigm of transporting the entire ore to the
be recoverable. The Athabasca McMurray-Wabiskaw is the plant and returning the sand back to the mine. This type of
single largest deposit, occurring from the surface to a depth of technology may also allow smaller operations to emerge,
750 m. Depths up to 120 m are considered to be surface mine- reducing both the entry-fee and the need for large plants.
able and deposits from 120 m to 750 m are amenable to in situ
processes. Of the 7,320 million m3 considered to be recover- Table 1 provides a summary of the technological innova-
able by surface mining, reserves3 for the two commercial tions and their impacts on surface mining.
projects (Suncor and Syncrude) alone are 644 million m3.
The incremental technological improvements that have
occurred since Suncor started surface mining in 1967 and In Situ Operations in Athabasca, Cold
Syncrude in 1978 have been nothing short of phenomenal, Lake, and Peace River
driving down the cost of production by about more than half. The volume-in-place of extra-heavy oil and bitumen in the
At Suncor the costs (including operating costs, sustaining cap- Athabasca, Cold Lake and Peace River is estimated at
ital and reclamation) are $72 per cubic meter ($11.40/bbl) and 269,000.3 Of this some 46,000 million m3 (compared to 7,320
are expected to drop below $57 per cubic meter ($9/bbl) for surface mining) are considered to be recoverable by in situ
within three years.2 At Syncrude, the operating costs have processes. The Cyclic Steam Stimulation (CSS) process oper-
steadily declined to around $60 per cubic meter, due to the use ated by Imperial Oil (IOL) in Cold Lake is at present the
of “less-mechanical” devices such as inclined-plate separators major commercial process. CSS is a well-developed process;
and less downtime in the upgraders. The expansion of existing the major limitation is that less than 20% of the initial oil-in-
operations by Suncor (Steepbank and Project Millennium) place can be recovered. IOL is working on the development of
and Syncrude (North Mine and Aurora) coupled with the addi- novel post-CSS processes.
tions of commercial operations by Shell (Muskeg River) and
Mobil (Kearl Lake) will likely triple production from the The biggest technological success for in situ producers
have come from the development of horizontal wells that pro-
present about 39,000 to about 105,000 m3/day by 2007. Sur-
vide both greater reservoir access and the development of
face mining operations are integrated with upgrading (also
novel recovery processes based on gravity drainage mecha-
refining in the case of Shell) and, therefore, relatively unaf-
nisms. Improvements in reservoir characterization tools (for
fected by the differential between conventional and heavy oil.
example, 3-D Seismic) have further enhanced horizontal well
This is likely to leave mined oil sands operations in a domi-
technology by allowing for accurate placement and location of
nant position with respect to production and the marketing of
wells. Horizontal wells are likely to play such a decisive role
oil resources in Western Canada.
in the development of the resources and, therefore, merit more
In the next ten years, mined oil sands operations will be in-depth discussion.
under increasing environmental scrutiny following the Kyoto
summit on climate change in December 1997. They will have
to build more efficient operations based on some major tech-
nological advances already made including: Horizontal Wells — Current Challenges
• Truck and Shovel are already replacing bucketwheel exca- In 1996, 1436 horizontal wells were drilled in Canada.4 Of
vators and draglines as the main strip-mining method. these 266 wells were drilled in heavy oil and bitumen reser-
Intelligent systems for continuous detection of the ore voirs. Figure 3 shows that horizontal wells have been enthusi-
quality at the mineface will be the standard feature with astically applied to heavy oil and oil sand reservoirs.5 A recent
this technology. study4 identified the Canadian industry experience using hori-
• Slurry Pipelines will emerge as the dominant method for zontal wells. This enhanced with our own thoughts, is summa-
one-step transportation of the ore and low-temperature rized below:
separation of the bitumen at long distances between the • Drilling and completion techniques for horizontal wells
mine site and the extraction plant. The development of reservoirs are now largely routine. The equipment to drill
“smart pipelines”, which includes sensing, measurement horizontal wells in shallow oil sands deposits, however,
and control of the flow volumes and separation processes, needs further development.
will ensure optimum conditions and reduce energy • Formation evaluation (logging, coring, and seismic) is lim-
requirements. In the future, we foresee the emergence of ited due to costs. Reservoir description will likely be short-
regional extraction plants to which ore will be transported changed in heavy oil and bitumen commercial operations
and separated and regional upgraders to which diluted since the low value product would not likely justify more
than rudimentary formation evaluation.

2
• Fiber optic technology to measure temperature and pres- injected warms the bitumen and lowers its viscosity. A
sure along the wellbore works well except at temperatures heated zone is created through which the warmed bitumen
above 250°C. can flow back into the well. This is a well-developed pro-
• Multilateral well technology includes the drilling of either cess with the major advantage of producing oil soon after
horizontal well sections from a single vertical well or mul- the project is initiated. The major limitation of CSS is that
tiple horizontal wells drilled from the main horizontal less than 20% of the initial oil-in-place can be recovered.
Well. Multilateral technologies have a great future but are On the other hand, the major advantage of gravity drainage
at an early stage of development. Multilaterals could have processes is that they can drain more than 50% of the oil-
many applications in heavy oil reservoirs. A major limita- in-place. Their main drawback is the relatively slow ini-
tion will be access (for remedial work) and control of the tialization of the process. Thus a key to the future of CSS
branches to ensure efficient operations. is combining the benefits of CSS with those of a gravity-
• In poorly consolidated sand, horizontal wells likely will do based process. Should this prove successful this may turn
no better than vertical wells due to sanding. out to be the thermal process of choice in the 21st Century
for essentially immobile oil reservoirs. Figure 4 provides a
• In bottom water reservoirs, horizontal wells show less of a
recovery profile based on laboratory experience at the
tendency to water coning than vertical wells provided the
Alberta Research Council illustrating the potential of com-
crude is relatively light. In extra heavy oil reservoirs, water
coning will render horizontal wells no more efficient than bining vertical wells with SAGD.10
vertical wells. • Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD): this process
• Operations of horizontal wells are complicated because uses paired horizontal wells. Steam, which is continuously
there is less control of fluid entry over the length of the injected through the upper well, creates a steam chamber
well and remedial action is more complex and costly. Lack along the walls of which the heated bitumen flows and is
of understanding or information about the flow patterns in produced in the lower well (Figure 5). Several variations
the reservoir contributes to operational complexity and of this process have been developed. One variation uses a
makes predictive modeling difficult if not misleading. single horizontal well, with steam injection through a cen-
tral pipe and production along the annulus. Another varia-
Major new innovations required to better operate horizontal
tion involves steam injection through existing vertical
wells and improve performance will emerge in ‘intelligent’
wells and production through an underlying horizontal
tools for sensing, measurement and control. This must be
well. The key benefits are an improved steam-oil ratio and
inexpensive and still allow for direct detection of fluid flow
high ultimate recovery — in the order of 60%.7,11 The out-
and patterns in the reservoirs that in turn will control the rate,
standing technical issues relate to low initial oil rate, artifi-
extent and the position of fluid entry in the wells.
cial lifting of bitumen to the surface, horizontal well
operation and the extrapolation of the process to reservoirs
having low permeability, low pressure and bottom water.
In Situ Production Processes The low initial oil rates can be overcome through the use
The two major successes in in situ production over the past of solvents that help to accelerate the initialization stage
decade in extra heavy and bituminous reservoirs were Impe- and this has already been demonstrated in the field.12 The
rial Oil’s cyclic steam (CSS) project in Cold Lake6 and the SAGD process and variation thereof are likely to become
UTF Consortium in Fort McMurray using steam-assisted the dominant commercial processes in the 21st Century.
gravity drainage (SAGD) technology.7,8 Another promising • “Warm Cold Production”: Cold Production involves the
technology is being experimented by Shell in Peace River co-production of oil and sand and is a commercial process
which uses cyclic-steam in soak/radial wells (each well has 4 responsible for the majority of current heavy oil produc-
radial horizontal sections about 100 m in length).9 tion in Western Canada. The process is applicable to heavy
In the next ten years, the major growth will be in processes oils with some mobility and results in the development of
applying horizontal wells especially if heavy oil prices will be high-permeability channels (called “wormholes”) in the
relatively high. Low oil prices will favor processes using verti- adjacent low cohesive strength sands. Sand transport is
cal wells such as CSS and Cold Production, which give a facilitated by the flow of “foamy oil”, caused by solution
rapid payback of invested capital. A suite of processes includ- gas drive (Figure 6). Its key benefits are; improved reser-
ing those developed in the last ten years, variations thereof, voir access, order-of-magnitude higher oil production rates
and new processes will be needed to attack the many reser- (as compared to primary recovery) and lower production
voirs of various complexity and variability. The likely pro- costs. The outstanding technical issues involve sand han-
cesses and the challenges that need to be overcome are dling problems, field development strategies, and worm-
described below and summarized in Table 2: hole plugging for water shut-off, low ultimate recovery
and sand disposal. Originally, Cold Production mecha-
• CSS Combined Gravity Process: the CSS process, which
nisms were thought to apply only to vertical wells. How-
has been commercialized by IOL, is predominantly a verti-
ever, there appears to be some advantages of applying
cal well process, with each well alternately injecting steam
and producing bitumen and steam condensate. The heat Cold Production in horizontal wells.13 The development of

3
 a low thermal process sufficient to make the extra heavy (initial API gravity of 15°, upgraded to 23°).19 A process
oils mobile will be a key to expanding this technology and that will partially upgrade heavy oil and bitumen in situ
this process is likely to find applications in immobile res- and produce oil that has significant value over the original
ervoirs with thin payzones. oil is still at the ideation stage. This process may be accel-
• Warm Vapor Extraction: the VAPEX process involves the erated through the “S” curve if the price differential
injection of vaporized solvents such as ethane or propane between conventional and heavy oil remains large and if
or butane or solvent/gas mixtures, to create a vapor-cham- no economic surface process is developed that can par-
ber through which the oil flows due to gravity drainage tially upgrade heavy oil to meet pipeline specifications.
(Figure 7). The process can be applied in paired horizontal
wells, single horizontal wells or a combination of vertical
and horizontal wells. The key benefits are significantly
lower energy costs than SAGD, potential for in situ Heavy Oil Deposits and
upgrading and application to reservoirs that are thin or Recovery Technologies
have bottom water or reactive mineralogy.14 In extra heavy Conventional heavy oil deposits occur in central
oil reservoirs we envisage the use of heaters (steam heat Saskatchewan and Alberta, around Lloydminster. The Cana-
exchanger, electrical or microwave) in the injection or pro- dian heavy oil deposits, although significant, are relatively
ducing or in both wells. This will be necessary to acceler- small in comparison to the oil sands deposits. The National
ate the mixing of the gas/solvent mixture and the oil and to Energy Board’s (NEB) estimates in 1992 their ultimate poten-
provide additional mobility. This process can also be used tial to be 1,125 million m3.20 The established reserves were
as a post-thermal process, for example, at an optimum
565 million m3 with 410 million m3 already produced. Singh,
period after SAGD has been initiated.
et al,2 estimate that the ultimate potential-to-production ratio
• Top-Down Combustion: the concept is to initiate and to be 21.5 years.
maintain combustion by injected air or enriched air at the
top of the reservoir, with mobilized oil draining by gravity The biggest success story for conventional heavy oil pro-
to the bottom horizontal producing well (Figure 8). The duction relates to primary production from thin, unconsoli-
strategy for a stable propagation of a high temperature dated reservoirs, particularly in Saskatchewan. The
combustion front has been developed in large-scale test combination of horizontal wells (to improve reservoir con-
tact), 3-D-seismic (to control the deployment of the wells) and
beds15 and evaluated using numerical simulation.15,16 The
progressive-cavity pumps (to allow high-volume production
laboratory data show good potential for some partial
of sandy fluids from vertical wells) has resulted in high
upgrading of the produced oil. This process has not been
growth of heavy oil production.
field-tested and the major challenge remains in field opera-
tions where potential problems associated with ignition, In the next ten years, heavy oil deposits, with the existing
maintaining combustion, low temperature oxidation and infrastructure and ease of access, will continue to be the test-
channeling need to be addressed. The main advantage for ing grounds for adaptation of new technology (described
combustion (over a steam-based process) may develop if above) that will ultimately be applied to bitumen reservoirs.
CO2 emissions from surface steam generators provide a Improvements in seismic technology to enable the monitoring
significant environmental penalty. The other advantage is of fluid flow with time (4-D seismic) and distinguishing
in deep reservoirs or reservoirs with bottom water where between oil, water and gas zones will be possible. The major
pressures and heat losses make the use of steam uneco- commercial processes in the 21st Century are likely to include:
nomic. To maintain the advantages and reduce the risks of, • Cold Production: the key commercial technology will con-
for example, low temperature oxidation; may require com- tinue to be Cold Production. The understanding of cold
bining combustion with SAGD. In this concept a paired production mechanisms,21,22 developed several years after
horizontal well combustion process would start at an opti- the process was applied in the field, will drive improve-
mum time after the initiation of SAGD chamber. ments in design strategies, in targeting application to the
• In Situ Partial Upgrading: processes such as VAPEX and appropriate reservoirs and in developing remedial actions
Top-Down Combustion produce oil that is slightly less vis- which will increase the life and ultimate recovery of the
cous than the original oil. Table 3 provides a summary of field.
some typical viscosity reductions based on experiments • VAPEX: is ideally suited for the more mobile heavy oil
carried out at the Alberta Research Council17 and by Lim pools. The application will depend largely on relatively
et al.18 The partial upgrading of the oil likely due to some cheap sources of gases or solvents. Because many of the
of the asphaltenes left behind in the reservoir, is not signif- reservoirs are thin, the trend will be towards using single
icant and will add little value to the produced oil. How- horizontal wells operated in a cyclic mode. The key to this
ever, neither of the processes where optimized for leaving technology remains improving the rate of mixing of the
behind asphaltenes but rather for maximizing oil produc- gas/solvent mixtures during mobilization of the heavy oil.
tion. The use of catalysts with combustion has shown some • Post-Primary Processes: because ultimately recovery using
promise in the laboratory, to provide significant upgrading Cold Production is generally about 10%, there is a large

4
 incentive to develop Post-Cold Production process that In this paper we have attempted to chart the course for the
would make use of the reservoir access provided by worm- continued growth of the heavy oil and oil sands industry in
holes. Gases to repressurize the reservoir and gas/solvent Canada. Sustained investments in R&D and the piloting of
mixtures tuned to the reservoir will be the likely methods new technologies especially during industry downturns will
to increase ultimate recovery. The key challenge to appli- be the key to success and, we project, will lead to the doubling
cations will be the development of both cheap conform- of heavy oil, oil sands and synthetic production before the end
ance methods to control the movement of the injected of the first quarter of the 21st Century.
fluids and sensing methods to characterize the flow pat-
terns in these multi-channel reservoirs.
• Thermal Gravity Process: this will likely be limited to res-
ervoirs with thicker pay-zones. Improvements in multilat- Acknowledgment
eral well technology (see below) may expand the use of The authors are indebted to the many engineers and scientist
low thermal processes. at the Alberta Research Council and the industry partners of
• Multilateral Wells: we believe that multilaterals will play the ADOE/ARC Core Industry Research Program (AACI)
an important role in the future of heavy oil development. consortium for their ideas and insights over many years. We
The major advantages include; reduced costs per meter of would also like to thank Yvonne Mariacci and Valerie Pinko-
reservoir accessed, reduced location, access road and ski for help in preparing this manuscript.
cleanup costs. The future challenge will be the potential
difficulty in operation and control of the well, cost-effec-
tive pressure and flow isolation of selected multilateral
branches and entry into a given lateral for remedial work. References
Once the technology is developed to inject and produce in
1. Cambell, C.J. and Laherrere, J.H., “The End of Cheap
selected branches, it will be possible to effectively com-
Oil”, Scientific American, March 1998.
bine primary production with solvent and steam stimula-
tion to achieve unprecedented sweep efficiency. The big 2. Singh, S., duPlessis, M.P., Isaacs, E.E., and Kerr, R. “Cost
prize will be is transferring the technology to the more Analysis of Advanced Technologies for the Production of
abundant bituminous reservoirs. Heavy Oil and Bitumen in Western Canada”, 17th Con-
gress of the World Energy Council, Houston, September
11–17, 1988.
3. “Alberta’s Reserves 1996: Crude Oil, Oil Sands, Gas,
Concluding Remarks Natural Gas Liquids, Sulphur”, Alberta Energy and Utili-
In the past decade, we have witnessed several major successes ties Board, Statistical Series 97–18, December 1996.
in the Canadian oil sands and heavy oil industry, all triggered 4. Fisher, L. “Current Challenges in the Use of Horizontal
by technological innovations. Surface mining has been rejuve- Well Technology”, Draft Report prepared for the Alberta
nated with new technologies such as truck and shovel mining, Department of Energy by the Canadian Energy Research
cold water extraction, slurry pipelining, mechanical separation Institute, September 1997.
and the potential recovery of by-products. In addition, there 5. Polikar, M. and Sadler, K., “Oil Sands — Then and
are commercial operations in cyclic steam stimulation and Now”, Canadian Heavy Oil Association, “Slugging it Out
cold production. Several SAGD projects are in the piloting V”, April 1977; updated data from M. Polikar, Feb. 1998.
phase. VAPEX and its variations are about to be piloted. Sig-
6. Batycky, J., “An Assessment of In situ Oil Sands Recov-
nificant advances have also been made in “enabling” technolo-
ery Processes”, Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technol-
gies such as horizontal well drilling, multilateral well
ogy, October 1997.
technology, instrumentation, automation and telemetry, 3-D
seismic, pumping systems for sand and fluids, and reservoir 7. Polikar, M. and Redford, D.A., “Evolution of Steam-
simulation and predictions techniques. based Technology for the Recovery of Canadian Heavy
Oil Reservoirs”, Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technol-
These breakthroughs have been the culmination of years of
ogy, May 1995.
investments in research and development and field trials and
have led to a heavy oil and oilsands industry on the verge of a 8. Towson, D.E., “Canada’s Heavy Oil Industry: A Techno-
major growth period. The technologies are at an early stage of logical Revolution”, SPE International Thermal Opera-
commercialization and many technical challenges remain tions and Heavy Oil Symposium, Bakersfield, February
especially given the volatility of both oil prices and the differ- 1997.
ential (between heavy and conventional oil) and the growing 9. Lepper, G.B. and C.A. Pratt, “Multilateral Drilling and
need to reduce environmental risks and liability. Completion for Steam Assisted Bitumen Recovery”, SPE/
CIM Conference on Horizontal Well Technology, Cal-
gary, November 12, 1997.

5
10. Nasr, T.N., Golbeck, H., Korpany, G., and Pierce, G., 17. Isaacs, E.E., Coates, R., Frauenfeld, T., and McFarlane,
“SAGD Operating Strategies”, SPE/CIM International R.A., “In Situ Partial Upgrading”, presentation to the
Conference on Horizontal Well Technology, Calgary, Black Oil Pipeline Network Steering Committee of the
Alberta, November 1998. Alberta Chamber of Resources, February 1998.
11. Cyr, T. and E.E. Isaacs, “New Approaches to Enhanced 18. Lim G.B., Kry, P.R., Harker, B.C., and Jha, K.N., “Cyclic
Recovery of Heavy Oil & Bitumen”, 47th Canadian Stimulation of Cold Lake Oil Sand with supercritical
Chemical Engineering Conference, Edmonton, October Ethane”, 1995 International Heavy Oil Symposium, Cal-
1997. gary, Alberta, June 1995.
12. Donnelly, J.K., “Application of Steam Assisted Gravity 19. Weissman, J.G. and Kessler, R.V., “Processing of Heavy
Drainage to Cold Lake”, SPE/CIM 6th Conference on Crude Oils for In situ Upgrading” Canadian Oil Sands
Horizontal Well Technology, November 1997. Report, Network for Research and Development, Report
13. Huang, W.S., B.E. Marcum, M.R. Chase, and C.L. Yu, UG–96–2.
“Cold Production of Heavy Oil from Horizontal Wells in 20. “Canadian Energy Supply and Demand 1993–2010”,
the Frog Lake Field”, 1997 SPE International Thermal National Energy Board, July 1994.
Operations and Heavy Oil Symposium, Bakersfield, Feb- 21. Tremblay, B., Sedgwick, G., and Forshner, K., “Modeling
ruary 1997. of Sand Production from Wells on Primary Recovery”,
14. Frauenfeld, T., D. Lillico, and S. Singh, “Gas and Solvent Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, Vol. 37, No.
Stimulation for the Recovery of Heavy Oil”, 47th Cana- 3, 41–50, March 1998.
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15. Coates, R., Lorimer, S., and Ivory, J.: “Experimental and Sand Production in a Horizontal Sand Pack Using Live
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Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, March 1994.

6
Table 1: Innovations in Surface Mining Technologies

Table 2: Innovative In Situ Technologies

7
Table 3: Typical Viscosity Reduction In Situ Partial Upgrading Observed in Laboratory Studies of Solvent and Combustion Processes

3)
Canadian vs World Oil Resources (billion m
400

300 Conventional Oil

200 Heavy Oil

0
Canada World D. Wightman, Personal Comm. (1997)

Figure 1: Comparison of Canadian and World Oil Resources

8
 1996 Canadian Production upgraded
bitumen
(SCO)
light & 20%
medium
49%
heavy oil &
bitumen
31%

Figure 2: The Canadian crude oil production for 1996 was 319,000 m3/d; includes 9% pentane plus (not shown).
This figure represents a 40% increase in production over 1976 when light and medium represented 80% of the total Canadian production.

1000

800
Horizontal Well Activity
Wells Drilled
Cumulative

600 (heavy oil & oil sand reservoirs)

400

200

0
1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998
Year

Figure 3: Horizontal Well Activity in Heavy Oil and Oil Sand Reservoirs
In 1996, approximately 20% of the horizontal wells drilled were in non-conventional reservoirs. Data is from Reference 5.

9
 Horizontal & Vertical Wells
Oil Recovery

PairedWells
CSS

Field Years

Figure 4: Schematic Comparison of Percent Recovery Versus Time Illustrating the Potential Benefits of Combining CSS and SAGD Wells

Horizontal & Vertical Wells

PairedWells
CSS

Field Years

Figure 5: Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) Process Showing the Paired Horizontal Well Concept and Steam-Chamber Profile

10
 sand,oil,gas,water

wormholenetwork

PC Pumps
foamyoil

Figure 6: Illustration of the Cold Production Process in which Sand and Oil are Produced Simultaneously
The main mechanisms involve foamy oil flow, sand failure and sand transport from wormhole tip to the well.

Production
Injection

Exampleof
GasandSolvent Dual
completion
Operational
Concept Overburden

- single well
continuous Injection

Pump

Drainage chamber
Formation

Injection
point

Injection string Slotted or perforated casing

Figure 7: Illustration of the Concept for Gas and Solvent (VAPEX) Process from a Single-Well
The dual-well concept is similar to SAGD with vaporized solvents replacing steam injection.

11
 AIR
AIR

BURN
FRONT
MOBILIZED
OIL

HORIZONTAL WELL

Figure 8: Illustration of the Field Application of a Top-Down Combustion Process

12