Hydrocarbon Recovery Research: Doing More With Less Through Research Partnerships
Authors: Duplessis M.P. 
Published: March 2010

In western Canada there is a strong interest in in situ production of heavy oil including conventional heavy crudes and bitumen. Lower world crude oil prices have increased the need for research aimed at reducing production costs and improving recoveries from existing operations in high-quality reservoirs as well as from future lower quality reserves. Greater dependence on research to remain competitive at reduced profit margins and reduced profit margins and reduced funds for R&D have challenged research managers to do more with less. This paper describes how the Oil Sands and Hydrocarbon Recovery Department at the Alberta Research Council is facing this challenge by working in partnership with industry, universities and other research organizations on a variety of projects.

Introduction

The mission of the Alberta Research Council (ARC) is to advance the economy of the province by promoting technology development, performing applied research, and providing expert advice, technical information and scientific infrastructure that is responsive to the needs of the private sector and supports activities in the public sector. To accomplish its mission the ARC works with industry, government, universities and other research centres in a variety of ways. The purpose of such research partnerships is to combine complementary technical and scientific skills, share research facilities and perform cost-effective research which meets the needs of the participants. This paper describes a number of partnership projects related to hydrocarbon recovery which differ widely in size, duration and technical scope.

Cost-Shared Programs

The AOSTRA/ARC/lndustry Program

This cost-shared program develops new technology for in situ extraction of oil sands and heavy oil. Started in 1981, the first five-year program developed the necessary facilities, research expertise and infrastructure. The technical focus was on investigating steam and steam-additive processes to improve recovery, to gain a better understanding of process mechanisms, measure relevant physico-chemical properties and to develop mathematical models which describe laboratory results and which can also be used for field predictions. The second five year program, started in 1986, focusses on generic problems arising from field pilot operations. Companies can participate in the program by paying an annual membership fee which provides direct access to the research conducted at the ARC as well as commercial use rights to project technology which is owned by AOSTRA. The program is guided by a Program and Policy Committee and technical committees made up of representatives from all participants. Project information deemed nonproprietary can be published subject to a suitable delay period and member approval.

Participating companies have direct access to ARC's staff and laboratories. If required, companies can also second their staff to work in ARC laboratories on projects of special interest, provided the results of such work can be shared with all participants. Membership fees constitute only a small percentage of the total program cost and participants recognize this as a good investment of their research funds.

Investigations are carried out in the following areas:

Process Flow Mechanisms

This project investigates flow through porous media. The simple relative permeability approach now used in numerical simulations may not be adequate in cases where emulsions occur or where there is viscous fingering due to high mobility contrasts. In addition, it is important to understand how phenomena occurring on the microscopic pore scale relate to both the macrosc