How does steam assisted gravity drainage work?
Steam assisted gravity drainage or SAGD is a method that is widely used to extract bitumen from underground oil sands deposits. This method involves forcing steam into sub-surface oil sands deposits to heat the bitumen locked in the sand, allowing it to flow well enough to be extracted.
Is SAGD the same as fracking?
Behind these tectonic shifts are new technologies, some of which have quickly become well-known. They include hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) and horizontal drilling, in the case of shale gas and shale oil, and steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), in the case of oil sands.
What is SAGD used for?
Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), is a drilling technique used to extract heavy crude oil which is buried too deep or otherwise burdensome to access.
What is a SAGD plant?
Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) is an enhanced oil recovery technology for producing heavy crude oil and bitumen involving an advanced form of steam stimulation. Two horizontal wells are drilled into the oil reservoir, one a few meters above the other.
Why is in situ better than mining?
More efficient water usage: In-situ operations use water for steam production, which is mostly recovered and recycled back into the process plant. Fresh water consumption rates are therefore much lower than mining operations, which require large volumes of water to slurry the oil sands.
What is in situ in oil and gas?
In Situ comes from the latin term meaning “in position” or “on site” and refers to the oil sands technologies used to recover bitumen that lies too deep beneath the surface to be mined (more than 75 meters deep) and too viscous to flow on its own.
How does enhanced oil recovery work?
Oil production is separated into three phases: primary, secondary and tertiary, which is also known as Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). While waterflooding and gas injection during the secondary recovery method are used to push the oil through the well, EOR applies steam or gas to change the makeup of the reservoir.
Is SAGD oil a sands?
Oil sand is a mixture of bitumen, sand and water. Because it does not flow like conventional crude oil, it must be mined or heated underground before it can be processed.
What is insitu oil?
How are oil sands extracted?
Currently, 20% of oil sands reserves are accessible via mining techniques. Large shovels scoop the oil sand into trucks which then move it to crushers where the large clumps of earth are processed. Once the oil sand is crushed, hot water is added so it can be pumped to the extraction plant.
What is in situ oil mining?
In Situ refers to methods of oil sands production that use drilling and steam to produce bitumen. The most common in situ method is called Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD).
What is steam-assisted gravity drainage?
Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) is an enhanced oil recovery technology for producing heavy crude oil and bitumen involving an advanced form of steam stimulation. Two horizontal wells are drilled into the oil reservoir, one a few meters above the other.
Who invented steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD)?
Dr. Roger Butler, engineer at Imperial Oil from 1955 to 1982, invented the steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) process in the 1970s. Butler “developed the concept of using horizontal pairs of wells and injected steam to develop certain deposits of bitumen considered too deep for mining”.
What is the history of gravity drainage?
The gravity drainage idea was originally conceived by Dr. Roger Butler, an engineer for Imperial Oil in the 1970s In 1975 Imperial Oil transferred Butler from Sarnia, Ontario to Calgary, Alberta to head their heavy oil research effort.
How does a steam oil well work?
High-pressure steam is continuously injected into the upper well and into the reservoir to heat the oil and reduce its viscosity, causing the heated oil and condensed steam to drain into the lower wellbore, where it flows under natural pressure or via pumps to the surface for further processing.