Production of bitumen in Canada has increased considerably in the last decade. Due to its heavy nature, bitumen needs upgrading in order to make it marketable. The first approach adopted was to fully upgrade it to high quality synthetic crude oil, but due to the enormous capital and operating costs, it has been proven that […]

Unprecedented climate warming and human disturbance in the border region of the Northwest Territories and northeastern British Columbia (NEBC) has led to widespread permafrost thaw and land cover change that has disrupted the hydrological cycle and the industrial activities that depend upon it. To address this concern, Wilfrid Laurier University in collaboration with Nexen Energy […]

In-situ recovery methods for oils sands are applied to reservoirs containing bitumen that are too deep for mining. To date there has been only one commercially viable in-situ recovery method, Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD), involving high pressure steam injection and bitumen production using horizontal well pairs located near the base of oil sands formations. While […]