The Petroleum Technology Research Centre (PTRC) is providing $300,000 in funding to SRC to implement and expand its Viking tight oil research program.
The Viking formation – located in west-central Saskatchewan – is one of the largest oil plays in North America with an estimated 3 billion barrels of light, sweet crude in place. However, specific geological features of the Viking continue to make recovery a challenge.
Wells in the Viking often produce no more than 5 to 15 per cent of the oil in place, and production has been on the decline since 2012.
The number of wells drilled in the area, however, continues to go up because of the poor recovery rates. “Research into the Viking to optimize production from existing wells has both economic and environmental impacts,” notes Mike Crabtree, Vice President of SRC’s Energy Division. “Field applicable research – such as identifying subsurface sources of saline water, and designer mixtures that will not cause clays to swell while applying new additives to waterfloods – will be an increasing focus.”
The research will use SRC’s state-of-the-art modelling and imaging technologies to provide industry partners with improved field characterization for the application of new technologies. PTRC recently acquired an industrial-scale CT scanner – now housed at SRC’s Energy Division in Regina – which is just part of the research council’s expanding reservoir characterization capabilities.
Read the full news release on the PTRC website.
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