Within the Lloydminster area, it is estimated that only 5% of wells are thermally completed and therefore cannot be steamed, leaving vast amounts of proven oil reserves unrecovered.

In typical cold flow heavy oil wells, only 4-8% of the original oil in place (OOIP) is recovered due to the high viscosity of oil. The tried and tested way of enhancing heavy oil recovery is by adding heat (using high-pressure steam), but most heavy oil wells, particularly those outside of the Alberta Oil Sands areas, are not thermally completed.

Figure: Map of wells with any type of thermal cement in Alberta (in red).

As per Directive 9, the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) considers thermal cement to be “a blend which does not exhibit a significant reduction in strength when subjected to temperatures greater than 360°C”. Conventional wells in designated oil sands areas must use thermal casing and cement, but only across the oil sands zone, meaning that while the target zone is thermally protected, it may still not be possible to steam the well.

However, even if a well is fully thermally completed, it is not necessarily completely immune to the effects of temperature and temperature swings. A percentage of thermally completed wells, which are actively being steamed, may be prone to suffer from premature failure, potentially related to mechanical casing issues or cement inadequacies. There are often multiple contributing factors to casing failures, but, in steaming applications, big temperature swings can be a contributing factor behind such failures.

Alberta’s Directive 87 describes a casing failure as the loss of ability for any casing string in a well to contain and prevent the escape of fluids at expected operating conditions. Casing failures can result in costly remediation, lost production and potential environmental impacts.

An easy-to-implement and affordable solution to protecting casing and cement from elevated temperatures and big temperature swings during thermal stimulations is GERI’s patented CasingCooler™. This technology makes steaming possible in thousands of non-thermally protected heavy oil wells and offers additional protection in existing steaming operations.

The CasingCooler™ works by constantly circulating cooling water inside the annular space, packed-off between vacuum insulated tubing (VIT) and the well casing. The system provides continuous real-time temperature and pressure measurement, which can be viewed and controlled remotely. Designed with safety in mind, automatic controls and shutdowns, ensure safe and proper operation.

To find out how the CasingCooler™ can be customized to your needs, email hello@geri.com. For more information about the company, visit GERI online.

Company Description:

GERI (General Energy Recovery Inc.) is a Canadian Energy Transition Technology company that provides enhanced heavy-oil recovery solutions, with a mission of “Recovering More, Emitting Less™”