Assets
Heavy Oil
Heavy oil can be produced in the same manner as light crude oil – by drilling
wells, using pumps to lift the oil and injecting water to maintain pressure in
the reservoir. However, this typically recovers less than 20 per cent of the oil
in the reservoir.
Horizontal wells get slightly more production because they penetrate a larger
portion of the reservoir. Thermal stimulation of reservoirs [cyclic steam, steam
fluid, steam assisted gravity drainage – SAGD] has improved production rates in
many/most heavy oil reserviors.