Can warm solvent start up save SAGD?

Most of Alberta heavy bitumen production is being sold at about $50CDN/bbl. Some say that SAGD costs more than that to produce. Can a better well start up strategy save SAGD?

Without AppIntel, how would you find field trials of pad start up? When you have AppIntel, it is as simple as typing   warm start up   into the KiP omni box.

One operator is proposing warm solvent startup up for pads. Page 3 of his application shows an interesting history of startup techniques tried in the field.

Help yourself to his application documents through our secure checkout.

Reduce start up time

Like others, this operator hopes to reduce the time of well pair startup. The start up phase warms the reservoir but doesn't produce any oil. Many operators circulate for 50-70 days before production can start.

Watching others schemes

Reviewing others in situ oil sands schemes can give you clues about what type of start up strategies work well and which are disasters.

The history of a SAGD scheme can often be told by the applications submitted to the regulator.

Applications broadcast the pessimism (or optimism) of an operator. They indicate the operator's short and long term plans.

Applications are an expos" of practical technology use. They show how technology works in the field. They indicate success and failure of each type of technology. They even offer ways to conduct look-back analysis on technology installations.

The best way to stay on top of SAGD field technology is to watch applications.

Cheapest, fastest, best

AppIntel costs less than a quarter of one person's salary. For the same price of a team of six man data-mining department, you could supply all your SAGD engineers with AppIntel.

AppIntel's search functions are quicker than made-in-house searches. And AppIntel's collection of historic applications is larger than any in-house collection we've seen.

AppIntel has area alerts that allow you to see new applications as soon as they are submitted.

AppIntel doesn't take sick days or vacations and it works on weekends. It doesn't miss applications or documents -- it's contents are triple checked for accuracy. And it adds search by UWI for applications that don't even have a UWI.

Tags: Thermal, Cut costs, Heavy Oil

Granger Low   8 Jan 2019

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