Technical frontier : where creativity is a matter of survival

The impacts that technological advances in oil sand mining have had on the heavy oil industry were discussed. At a July 1999 oil sands workshop an assembly of engineers from various technology firms discussed how technology has made heavy oil production viable. New technology has made it possible to cut oil sand production costs in half. Bitumen, which was once viewed as an uncompetitive resource, has been made competitive through innovations such as steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) and Vapex. Non-thermal production such as methods involving solvents rather than heat to make bitumen and heavy oil flow have also contributed to the success of oil sand mining. Both Syncrude and Suncor employ the SAGD process which makes use of two parallel horizontal wells. In this process, steam is injected into the top well to heat the oil making it flow and drop to the second well which recovers it. Syncrude's use of hydrotransport as a means of moving oil sands ore by pipeline has improved the energy efficiency at oil sand mining facilities which previously used the dragline method. Another technological innovation is a new water distillation system developed by Aqua Pure Inc. The new system uses a process of heating, reheating and compressing water vapour until the contaminants are separated from the water. The Taciuk processor, developed in Alberta, is currently being used in Australia. This thermal recovery process makes use of spent shale to provide heat. Canadian technology, particularly in the oil-sand development is in demand internationally. SAGD wells are in demand in Venezuela, Australia and Albania. 1 fig