Workflow

Processes and practices for economic heavy oil recovery

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Heavy oil is not new. Man’s relationship with bitumen extraction stretches back thousands of years. Commercially, oil and gas companies around the world have been extracting and producing heavy crudes for over 100 years. Today, rising frontier exploration risks, access to resources challenges, lower gas costs, and low pricing differentials are helping to make heavy oil regions increasingly attractive to producers.

Generally, there is no exploration phase for heavy oil projects in the conventional sense. The main challenge in heavy oil is not in finding resources, but in the ability for an oil company to extract, produce, and sell heavy crudes within (often changing) economic guidelines.

Under stable market conditions, heavy oil assets have the potential to generate many years of steady cash flow. Typically, these fields produce for more than 50 years. However, when the energy ratio needed to produce and upgrade a barrel of heavy oil can be as high as 40%, the trick is to ensure balanced economics throughout the entire length of the workflow.