New research directions for Canada's heavy oil and bitumen resources

A comprehensive report from the Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada (PTAC) outlining R&D directions aimed at expanding the recovery of Western Canada's vast heavy oil and bitumen reserves.

In this recent report commissioned by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), an R&D "roadmap" for developing enhanced heavy oil production technology is outlined. The focus is on R&D that could help realize the economic recovery of currently inaccessible heavy oil and bitumen reserves in Western Canada while minimizing GHG levels.  As the paper points out, the "inaccessible" bitumen and heavy oil reserves of Western Canada are vast (900 billion barrels) but are contained within carbonates or thin reservoirs making them challenging to recover with current production processes and technology - thus the need for research that will help yield both effective and environmentally sustainable recovery of these reserves.

The full paper can be found on:

http://www.ptac.org/osd/dl/osdp0601r.pdf

Jorge.