Amid the tough challenge of dwindling oil prices, GE is seeking for new technology to create production forecasting and optimization tools that simulate the real operating environments and optimize across the entire process, providing actionable insights that help producers achieve their cost, production, and environmental goals. The objective of this project is to develop data […]

Current Computational Pipeline Modeling based leak detection systems can not accurately predict the leaks in the pipeline when crude oil goes though phase change (column separation) along the 100s of kms long pipeline (due to hills and valleys). The objective of this project is to gain fundamental insight into the two phase gas-liquid flow physics […]

This research project with the industry partner Saskatchewan Research Council focuses on the displacement front instability in heavy oil recovery processes such as water flooding, solvent injection and polymer flooding. In those processes, the less viscous displacing fluid usually moves faster than the more viscous displaced heavy oil. This results in an instability that manifests […]

This MITACS proposal focuses on the chemical processes occurring that may enhance or inhibit microbial growth, identify and detect key microbial chemical precursors to MIC, and development of models to predict/mitigate MIC. It is part of a much larger Genome Canada project where the information and models developed in the proposal will be used in […]

The proposed research will be focused on eliminating fugitive emissions from liquefied natural gas (LNG) transmission, storage, and distribution operations. LNG can be used as fuel for transportation, and for combined heat and power generation in remote locations. We will study transmission, storage, and distribution operations by developing quasi-steady-state and time-dependent thermodynamic models. These models […]

Canada possesses vast resources of heavy oil, which is oil that is too thick to flow through porous sandstone reservoirs and into production wells at economic rates when conventional operating practices are used. Since the mid 1980’s, heavy oil operators have demonstrated their ability to increase heavy oil production rates by encouraging the creation of […]

Western Canada has vast heavy oil deposits in many thin heavy oil reservoirs with less than 10-m main pay zones. The cold heavy oil production with sand (CHOPS) is the primary production process for the heavy oil reservoirs. However, a typical CHOPS process can recover only 5?15% of the initial oil-in-place and waterflooding has had […]

Unconventional oil and gas resources are currently a significant portion of global oil and gas production and it is anticipated to continue its growth as production from conventional resources decline. Unconventional oil and gas resources include low permeability (“tight” resources e.g. shale), heavy oil and oil sands reservoirs amongst others. Economic and responsible development of […]

This project is to perform systematic studies to better understand key recovery mechanisms of mixture solvent CSI process and provide fundamental parameters for field-scaled prediction. For mass transfer, a methodology of measuring diffusion coefficients for multiple components simultaneously dissolving into heavy oil systems under bulk volume and porous medium conditions will be established. For foamy […]

This project is part of a research program to develop a model of sustainability-oriented innovation processes. The model would allow Canadian organizations to innovate systematically and deliberately and become leaders in innovating for sustainable development. We will work to develop the model with Canada’s Oil Sand’s Innovation Alliance and its members: Cenovus Energy Inc., Shell […]

Traditional oil sands production techniques include mining and transporting the sands and in situ production using steam injection, Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD). This proposed method will replace or enhance SAGD by using primarily traditional vertical well bores and an induction heating method which will potentially allow the heating effect to expand in diameter as […]

Annually, large number of tailings samples are collected by operators and sent to laboratories for measurement of Methylene Blue Index (MBI). This procedure is costly, time-consuming, and results are a function of the methods used and personnel expertise. In prior research we developed predictive models for the quick and consistent estimation of tailings MBI from […]