1 Intelligent Well Technology: Status and Opportunities for Developing Marginal Reserves SPE
Energy Efficiency in Alberta Oil Sands Production
Farhood Rahnama, Ph.D., Energy resources Conservation Board, 403-297-2386,
Marie-Anne Kirsch, Energy Resources Conservation Board, 403-297-8476,
Overview
Bitumen, an extra heavy crude oil also referred to as “oil sands” is contained in one of the world’s largest crude oil deposits in the province of Alberta in Canada. The in place resources of bitumen is estimated at over 3 trillion barrels. The remaining established (proved plus probable) reserves of bitumen in Alberta, are estimated at over 170 billion barrels and Albertahas been referred to as the Saudi Arabia of the West. Extraction of bitumen from the oily sands require heating of the water to wash the bitumen from the sands (in the mining techniques) or generating steam to melt the thick bitumen in order to produce it from wells with pumps similar to the conventional crude oil production where the reservoir pressures have been exhausted. Energy use, and in particular natural gas used as fuel, has been a major part of the production cost and producers have attempted to minimize usage by substitution or process improvements.
Methods
A cross section time series approach is used to observe trends in natural gas use by commercial projects producing oil sands in Alberta. The estimated trend will be then used to provide total natural gas requirements in this sector by applying the energy intensity to the projection of volume production over time.
Results
Preliminary observation indicates a decline in natural gas use intensity in bitumen production. As the volume of bitumen to be produced from the Alberta oil sands reserves is expected to rise dramatically over the next 10-15 years, energy use is a critical factor. The availability of energy sources is critical in fulfilling the energy requirements for this growing production to Alberta’s economy.
Conclusions
While bitumen production from the Alberta oil sands has been a very energy intensive development in the past, new projects have incorporated energy efficiencies to control the ever increasing costs. These measures have resulted in lower natural gas use per barrel produced. It is expected that this downward trend for energy use will continue as new projects develop and as technological improvements are made.