Reports on a cyclic solvent process (CSP) experimental pilot project at Cold Lake in the Clearwater formation. CSP is a non-thermal, in-situ bitumen recovery process that utilizes injected solvent...
Description
Reports on a cyclic solvent process (CSP) experimental pilot project at Cold Lake in the Clearwater formation. CSP is a non-thermal, in-situ bitumen recovery process that utilizes injected solvent to reduce the viscosity of the bitumen, enabling its production from wells drilled for that purpose. The liquid-phase solvent is injected into a horizontal well cyclically and, because of the large mobility contrast between the solvent and the bitumen, it fingers into the bitumen. Following injection, the solvent-bitumen blend is produced from the same well. Cyclic injection and production operations continue for multiple cycles over several years until the bitumen produced no longer justifies the cost of the solvent or until the bitumen production rate is no longer economic.