Summary of the BQI Presentation
I found this on the BQI Board.
QUOTE:
BQI++ PRESENTATION by guppyworldwide
Was a very interesting presentation. It definitely expanded my view on the operations they are doing.
I'll go through it and explain a bit on what I am seeing in point form, and my take on it.
Test Site 1: Planning a Field Test
-We have very, very high Permeability...or the ability for the reservoir to allow fluids to flow through it...personally, this is pretty much the highest I have ever seen in my career. This is great! Our oil will flow easily through this reservoir.
-We have very high viscosity. 6 million cp at 20 degrees C. You could walk on that stuff, and wouldn't get your shoes dirty. But that is OK...in the other presentation, we see that this oil is very responsive to heating. At our desired temperatures, we will see viscosities less than 100 cp...that is orders of magnitude lower. I have never had problems producing 100 cp oil.
-Axe Lake has very large sand grains...almost more like gravel than sand really. That is why our permeability is so high.
-Obviously we have no cap rock at Axe Lake. So they are devising their own approach in order to handle this situation. They are postulating that the bitumen itself can contain the steam chamber. So they will start heating from the very bottom, and hopefully they will produce a very large quantity of oil before the steam chamber breaks through to the top...at which point they will likely stop operations, or produce the wells without adding any more energy.
-In test site 1, they want to try and demonstrate how to establish communication between the wells at the bottom of the reservoir. They have a closer spacing than traditional SAGD. Once they establish communication between wells, they can then start pumping in the energy, and extract the oil.
-they have 3 horizontal wells at test site 1. And a whole whack of vertical wells which will be used for various reasons...such as gathering temperature, pressure, and fluid samples.
-They really go into detail on the completion method of the wells. They are definately set up for pumping. They are indeed installing liner/screens over the production interval so that they can keep the sand from coming into the reservoir. This is standard on all oilsands wells. Although it is easy to produce the sand with a PC pump, it is much, much easier and cheaper to handle if it is left in the reservoir.
-the wells are loaded with instrumentation. They will be keeping an eye on EXACTLY what the temperature and pressures of injection/production are. They are using some pretty modern technology too. I noticed they are trying the new gauge systems that are installed outside of the casing...this is great, because the instrumentation is not stuck in your well-bore where space is valuable.
-They will be injecting/testing many variables with this test. First off, they will inject cold water to see what the cold mobility of the oil will be...it is my guess that they will get zero injection...unless the reservoir has some decent water saturation at the bottom...in that case, they will be able to inject cold fluids. They will then move on to injecting hot water...this will have more impact as it may soften the bitumen enough to push it. Third they will try steam...and that is the best bet...almost guaranteed to work...NOTE: All they want to do is establish communication between wells...once that is done...they can start really pumping in the steam/energy, and get things moving...starting up a SAGD well is always the hardest part of the operation.
-the reservoir simulation work is interesting. It basically shows how the models predict heat will move through the reservoir over time. I noticed on one slide the results after 1 month of steaming. Other slides show the prorogation of the chamber over 30 days, 50 days...one year...It is all self explanatory...And remember...they are using reservoir models that adhere to strict physical laws...so if the simulators show it...it is likely to happen. It looks to me that after about 6 months to a year, the wells will have established very good communication...and at that point they could start injecting large amounts of fluids to both continue heating the reservoir, and also displace oil from the injectors to the producers.
All in all, this shows that their bottom up approach is defiantly feasible. I am quite confident we will get oil out of this reservoir...the question becomes....how much. Once they get the data they need, they will be able to tell us that too.
Now on to the other presentation:
Field Measurements Of Low Energy Oil Sands Mobility -
The Bottom-up Process
-Alot of it is the same as the other presentation when you really get down to it. They are really focusing on keeping the energy IN the reservoir as opposed to in the overburden...and that is what they SHOULD be doing to optimize the economics of the operations.
-What they are going to do is 2 things. First of...test the HEAT characteristics of the reservoir. They are heating it up with what I compare to a giant curling iron. They will Measure 2 things really...how fast the heat wave travels (conductivity)...and how much energy it takes to heat a certain volume of rock (heat capacity). From here, they will then test how well FLUIDS move through the reservoir...they will in effect start pumping hot water from the heat well into the cold well and pump the water and oil back up using a PC pump. They separate the fluids on surface...add any make up water that is needed, and keep on going until they get the data they need for fluid mobility. This will give them the RESERVOIR PERMEABILITY (as opposed to what we see on the test bench), MOBILITY (how easy the water can push the oil), and also allow them to test different substances.
-The most important piece of information from this presentation is the Temperature Dependant Viscosity graph. This shows the viscosity of our oil at various temperatures...it really is amazing to see how a little temperature can have a huge affect on the viscosity...we go from about 6 million cp down to less than 100 when we start steaming. It also shows that our oil at Axe lake is a little bit heavier than the projects in Alberta. But, once the reservoir is heated, this difference isn't so big...and also, from my own experience, there shouldn't be much problem at all producing oil as long as it has a viscosity less than 200 cb.
So...as long as we can get the reservoir to about 120 degrees C, I think we can make a good go of it, and get the viscosity under 200 cp.