Thermal Recovery of Oil and Bitumen by Roger M. Butler

Thermal Recovery of Oil and Bitumen Roger M. Butler ebook
Publisher:
Format: pdf
ISBN: 0139149538, 9780139149535
Page: 496

Because of “reserve growth,” a country or a company may increase its oil reserves without tapping new areas if it can recover more oil from its known fields. Low impact energy recovery requires massive capital and a willingness to take on high level of risk. Building sustainable operations for the recovery of oil and bitumen requires leading edge facilities and continual adaptation of technologies. 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. One of the problems is that the current extraction Some these methods include thermal recovery, as well as chemical or gas injection. Pairs of parallel horizontal wells, one for steam and one for production, make it possible to recover bitumen continuously from oil sands. The process is a non-thermal, mechanical land chemical closed-loop process to recover bitumen, and the chemical used in the process is non-toxic and biodegradable. Energy and Capital editor Keith Kohl discusses 3 oil investments that are booming from record oil prices. Shen, Co-Chairman, said "this technology has been proven successful in an CNOOC limited offshore project, and Sunshine Oilsands' research of the "multi-component thermal fluid thermal recovery technology" gives a possible indication that it could work economically in bitumen reservoirs". Thermal extraction is a much more environmentally friendly process than other energy extraction methods; for example, 98% of the water used by Connacher to extract their oil is recycled. In the 1960s, introduction of thermal recovery technologies (application of steam technology) caused abrupt and substantial additions to reserves in fields that contain heavy oil (American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity less than . Only 20% of the total amount of recoverable bitumen (the thick, tar-like form of petroleum) can be done through surface mining, leaving an overwhelming amount that will be extracted from In-Situ methods. Daybreak extends drilling program to seven wells at California oil project May 17, 2013 Daybreak Oil and Gas, Inc.