Improved exploitation of unconventional oil and gas reservoirs

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This research is aimed at improving the economic viability of producing oil and gas from deposits of marginal quality.  We are investigating ways of extending the applicability of existing recovery processes to difficult reservoirs and we are exploring new recovery concepts that will allow environmentally sustainable exploitation of such reservoirs.  Vapex is a non-thermal bitumen and heavy oil recovery process involving injection of vaporized light hydrocarbons via a horizontal well and draining the diluted bitumen via another parallel horizontal well placed near the base of the reservoir.  Our work is focused on improving the efficiency of this process with optimization of solvent composition and developing improved mathematical modeling capabilities.  Sequestration of CO2 in the depleted Vapex patterns is also of interest.  We also plan to evaluate the applicability of Vapex in depleted cold heavy oil production reservoirs.Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage is currently the mainstay of in situ bitumen recovery and is used in commercial operations.  However, it is not economical in marginal reservoirs due to high capital and operating costs for much smaller volumes of oil production.  We are investigating possible improvements in this process with optimization of well configurations and addition of hydrocarbon solvents to injected steam.Gas from methane hydrate deposits that exist in the permafrost regions and coastal waters of Canada is expected to become an important source of energy in couple of decades.  We are studying the formation and decomposition behaviour of gas hydrates in porous media.  This work is aimed at developing techniques for recovering natural gas from such hydrate deposits.