Heavy Oil Issues

& Solutions
Aubrey Arms
October 11, 2005
Energy Technology
Overview of presentation
 Background information
 Issues regarding Heavy Oil
 Methods of Extraction
 Comparative growth of heavy oil
 Importance of improving technologies
 Heavy Oil Gasification
Background
 Heavy Oil has an API between 22.3° and 10°
 High specific gravity, low hydrogen to carbon
ratios, high carbon residues
 High contents of asphaltenes, heavy metal,
sulphur and nitrogen
 Majority of Heavy Oil lies in Canada, Venezuela,
and the former Soviet Union
Issues
 Not recoverable in its natural state through a well by
ordinary production methods
 Comprises of 15% of worlds remaining oil reserves
 Normally sells at 50% discount to WTI
 Used to produce lower-value products
 Fuel oil verses gasoline
 However, fuel oil demand has decreased
 Upgrading Heavy Oil leaves behind even heavier residue
 Environmental Issues
 Oil Spills difficult to clean up
 High content of Toxins
Methods of extraction
 Conventional methods (inefficient)
 Cold heavy oil production with sands (CHOPS)
 Sand enters wellborn with oil
 Increases production by 100%
 Used to produce 22% of Canada’s Heavy Oils
 Vapor extraction (VAPEX)
 Inject vaporized solvents into formation
 Oil flows due to gravity drainage
 Experimental methods
 Fireflooding – increases temperature and allows oil to flow easier
 Solvents, electric currents, and ultrasound
 Thermal in-situ recovery
 Injecting steam
 Recovers up to 20% of conventional heavy oil
 Growth in Heavy Oil Production

Decrease in
Increase in conventional oil
Heavy Oil
Importance of developing new
Technologies
 The end of ‘easy oil’ is over
 Energy industry is expanding recourses to
recover difficult to remove heavy oil
 Heavy Oil Gasification
 Increased
value of heavy crude
 Combined Deasphalting and Gasifer
Heavy Oil Gasification
Heavy Oil Gasification
Summary
 Heavy Oil is more expensive to extract
and cost less than medium/light oil
 Production of heaving oil is increasing
while production of medium/light oil is
decreasing
 New methods are necessary to extract
heavy oil at lower cost and add value to
the product
 Gasification
References
 Lloydminster Oilfield Technical Society. OTS
Heavy Oil Science Centre.
http://www.lloydminsterheavyoil.com
 Centre for Energy. “What are oilsands and
heavy oil?” www.centreforenergy.com
 Wallace, Paul. Et al. Heavy Oil Upgrading by
the Separation and Gasification of Asphaltenes.
Texaco Inc. October 1998.