--> Abstract: Geology and Production Performance from Suncor's Firebag In-Situ Project, by Eugene A. Dembicki; #90039 (2005)

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Geology and Production Performance from Suncor's Firebag In-Situ Project

Eugene A. Dembicki
Suncor Energy Inc, Calgary, AB

Suncor has produced bitumen from the Lower Cretaceous McMurray Formation since 1967 by mining the shallow oil sands deposit adjacent to the Athabasca River and upgrading the bitumen into refinery feedstock and diesel fuel in northeastern Alberta, Canada. Now, in addition to mining, Suncor is exploiting deeper bitumen reserves using the Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) process at Firebag. This technique utilizes a pair of stacked horizontal wells that are positioned near the base of the reservoir. Steam is injected into the upper horizontal well and hot bitumen and water flow into the lower horizontal well.

Firebag is approximately 40 kilometers northeast of Suncor's current mining and upgrading operation and it is connected to the base facility by four pipelines. Natural gas, diluent, and water are shipped to Firebag and diluted bitumen is returned to the base facility for upgrading or sale. The first stage of development at Firebag consists of a steam generation and bitumen treatment facility that is designed to handle 35,000 bpd (5,500 m3/d) of bitumen from two well pads. Each pad has ten SAGD well pairs that are approximately 1000 m long and are spaced 160 m apart. The vertical spacing between an injection and production well is about 6 metres. Pad 1 has an average net pay of 44.5 m and contains an estimated 123 million barrels (19.6 million m3) of bitumen in place. Pad 2 has an average net pay of 39.5 m and contains approximately 108 million barrels (17.2 million m3) of bitumen in place. Steam was first injected in October 2003 and the first barrel of bitumen was processed in January 2004.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90039©2005 AAPG Calgary, Alberta, June 16-19, 2005