Taking a SAGD sabbatical due to economics

Some SAGD owners are feeling that $45 WTI oil price doesn't provide enough net back to allow them to continue to operate. But what else do you do?

One operator has decided to temporarily suspend operations. His SAGD scheme is taking a sabbatical. He has a mature steam chamber that still has plenty reservoir energy. Check out the steps he's taking to lay up his project until oil prices improve.

In his application you can see his proposed steps, how he will deal with staff, his pressure recovery strategy and many other technical details. You can get his application documents within moments. Help yourself through our secure, self serve check-out.

Suspending a SAGD operation for an indefinite period hasn't been tried before. But this operator has strong reasons he thinks he will be able to start it up again.

Empirically quantifying SAGD pressure drop during shut-in

Even though SAGD suspension hasn't been tried before, the operator has collected empirical evidence about how reservoir pressure will drop when steam injection ends. He has reviewed other projects that have had short term shut downs. He compares this information with his own turn around period data.

He took his observations and conducted some analytical and numerical simulation to predict pressure decline. For a quick leg-up on this turn of technology, you'll want to check out his pressure study.

The regulator bought his argument. This SAGD project is going to take a rest.

But during the suspension, he's taking steps to keep pool pressure up. You can read all of his plans in the application approved by the regulator.

Origin of Sabbatical

Some universities and other institutional employers of scientists, physicians, and academics offer the opportunity to qualify for paid sabbatical as an employee benefit, called sabbatical leave. It is an negotiated opportunity to take every seventh year to travel or study abroad. Often this time is used to complete work on a book.

The term sabbatical comes from the concept of sabbath introduced in the Bible. For example, in Leviticus 25:4 the people of Israel were commanded to give the land a break from cultivation every seventh year. This was in remembrance of the seventh day when God ceased from the labor of creating the earth.

Not sure if it's exactly seven years since the start-up of this SAGD scheme, but the pool is definitely going to get a rest from steam for at least a year.

If you had AppIntel, you would have seen this interesting sabbatical bid to the regulator the day after it was submitted. Area alerts allow SAGD operators to get notified of their competitor's applications immediately. They help you spy on your neighbors for competitive intelligence. How would this have helped you if you knew about this months ago?

Tags: Thermal, Cut costs, Heavy Oil

  5 Sep 2016

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