NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Unconventional Oil Recovery

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Oil and natural gas are the largest natural energy resources in Alberta and Canada. Currently, Alberta produces 70% of Canada's oil and 80% of its natural gas. The extraction and revenue from oil and natural gas is an imperative component of the Alberta economy as one-third of the Alberta Government's revenue is generated from oil and gas. As the demand and use for oil and gas increases globally and furthermore as oil prices reached its lowest values, efficient recovery and extraction of heavy-oil and bitumen has become a priority for the government, the oil industry, research centres and universities - especially the University of Alberta. The proposed NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Unconventional Oil Recovery is a major research initiative undertaken by the University of Alberta in response to developing ecologically viable technologies for extracting or tapping unconventional oil reserves and resources. For the most part, the oil industry has been technologically unprepared to meet the high demands of heavy oil and bitumen production and consumption needs. With Alberta having the second largest hydrocarbon reserves in the world (after Saudi Arabia's conventional oil reserves) that are estimated at 1.7 trillion barrels, currently only 10% of these reserves (173 billion barrels) is recoverable using existing technologies. Heavy-oil and bitumen reserves deposited below minable depths require in-situ recovery techniques. These lower-lying resources have considerably more potential than extractable oil sands. Only 15% of these oil reserves can be mined using existing techniques - leaving 85% of oil reserves untouched. While proven technologies are successfully applied for surface extraction of mined oil sands, in-situ recovery of heavy-oil and bitumen is still a considerable challenge due to the technological and economic problems. Through development of advanced and optimal in-situ recovery techniques under this proposed research program, the potential to recover 85% of these reserves exists.