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Thermal Recovery of Oil and Bitumen Roger M. Butler
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Zones too thin for traditional thermal recovery. SAGD recovery involves drilling pairs of horizontal wells, one placed above the other in each pair. Thermal recovery methods, as applied in heavy oil and oil sand deposits, and in environmental remediation, have the common objective of accelerating the hydrocarbon recovery process. Ivanhoe Energy's goals for the initial wells in Pungarayacu were to add to its preliminary understanding of the reservoir, to carry out thermal recovery tests, and to extract heavy oil for characterization and upgrading tests using its proprietary HTL upgrading process. SAGD extracts bitumen from underground by drilling wells into the reservoir, as with conventional oil and natural gas production. Alberta's vast oil sands — a mixture of sand, water and a semisolid form of petroleum called bitumen — account for 97 percent of Canada's proven crude oil reserves, making Canada the largest source of foreign oil for the world's According to a report by oil sands industry consulting firm Strategy West, “The primary disadvantage of steam-based thermal recovery techniques is the large amount of energy and water that must be consumed for the generation of steam. Is the THAI™ system (below) or any other process that comes along for economically recovering heavy oil and bitumen the answer to our dependence on oil for the majority of our transportation fuels? Trinidad and Tobago High Commission in Canada exploring Drilling Operations for Heavy Oil Resource. The pilot will use three parallel horizontal wells with electrical cables to conduct heat throughout the targeted bitumen formation. This does not appear to be pie in the sky, as they The heat generated in the reservoir reduces the viscosity of the heavy oil, allowing it to drain into a second, horizontal well from where it rises to the surface. April 19, 2013 - Reducing fresh water use and enhancing oil recovery in oil sands development are among five new pilot projects supported by Alberta's The project is designed to develop the bitumen in a reservoir that is too viscous for conventional production, but does not require as much heat as most current thermal projects. There has been an increase in the exploration of unconventional crude oils, which almost equal global conventional oil reserves - from bitumen through to heavy oils. Raising the temperature of the host formation reduces the oil and bitumen viscosity, and, in environmental remediation, increases vapour pressure. Ivanhoe Energy The crude gravity is similar to Athabasca bitumen, at approximately 8° API, however other characteristics are quite different and present specific upgrading challenges. Regulatory approval has been received for the construction and operation of a two-stage bitumen recovery scheme using steam-assisted gravity drainage. (How much oil is lost in the burning process? Baytex plans a pilot study in 2013. Baytex's current asset portfolio includes thermal recovery projects at Seal in the Peace River Oil Sands and at Kerrobert in southwest Saskatchewan. If successful, a commercial project would begin in 2014 with expected production in 2016. Steam is Another drilling technology being discussed is also a form of thermal recovery called cyclic steam stimulation (CSS).