scholarly journals Quantitative Characterization of Tidal Couplets in Oil Sands Reservoir, the Upper McMurray Formation, Northeastern Alberta, Canada

Lithosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (Special 1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Chen ◽  
Jixin Huang ◽  
Zhaohui Xia ◽  
Zhiquan Nie ◽  
Xiaoxing Shi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Spatial Scale ◽  
Oil Sands ◽  
Quantitative Description ◽  
Petrophysical Properties ◽  
Oil Sand ◽  
Quantitative Characterization ◽  
Mcmurray Formation ◽  
Characterization Procedure ◽  
Classification Quantitative

Abstract The McMurray Formation, NE Alberta, Canada, is one of the most significant bitumen bearing deposits worldwide. This formation deposited and reworked in fluvial, tidal, or estuarine environments results in a huge number of tidal couplets (TCs) which is consisted of mm-cm scale sandy and muddy interlayers. These couplets not only increase the geologic heterogeneity of the oil sand reservoir but also make it hard to predict the performance of in situ thermal processes. In this paper, based on literatures, lab analysis, core photos, logging, and drilling data, a quantitative characterization procedure for mm-cm scale tidal couplets was proposed. This procedure, which includes identification, classification, quantitative description, and spatial distribution prediction, was presented. Five parameters, thickness, mud volume, laminae frequency, spatial scale, and effective petrophysical properties, were selected to describe the TCs quantitatively. To show the procedure practically, TCs in the oil sand reservoir of McMurray Formation, Mackay River Project, and CNPC, were selected to demonstrate this procedure. The results indicate that the TCs are in mm-cm thickness, densely clustered, and in a variety of geometries. Based on geologic origins, these couplets were divided into four types: tidal bar couplets (TBCs), sand bar couplets (SBCs), mix flat couplets (MFCs), and tidal channel couplets (TCCs). The thickness, mud volume, and frequency were calculated by mathematical morphological processed core photos. The spatial scale of TCs was estimated by high-density well correlations. The effective petrophysical properties were estimated by bedding scale modeling and property modeling via REV. Finally, the spatial distribution of TCs was predicted by object-based modeling.

Characteristics of natural slopes in the Athabasca Oil Sands

1978 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurice B. Dusseault ◽  
Norbert R. Morgenstern
Keyword(s):  
Failure Mode ◽  
Oil Sands ◽  
High Strength ◽  
Outer Face ◽  
Oil Sand ◽  
Athabasca Oil Sands ◽  
Mcmurray Formation ◽  
A Minor ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
River Valleys

The Athabasca Oil Sands are largely within the McMurray Formation, which is a transgressive blanket quartz sand of Lower Cretaceous age. Millennia of erosion have resulted in extensive exposures of oil sand along river valleys in the vicinity of Fort McMurray. Study of these slopes has contributed to understanding the nature and behavior of oil sands. Oil sand slopes with active toe erosion are characteristically high and steep (up to 70 m at slopes over 50°), have an indurated outer face and display a stress–relief exfoliation joint system that controls slope recession phenomena. Bitumen does not contribute mechanically to slope stability. The major agents affecting slope morphology are the lithology, the aspect and the basal stratigraphy. Ravelling along exfoliation fractures is the major failure mode, block falls are a minor failure mode and rotational landslides have not been observed. Remolded oil sand may flow viscously, but intact oil sand displays an unusually high strength.

Deep channel sedimentation in the Lower Cretaceous McMurray Formation, Athabasca Oil Sands, Alberta

Sedimentology ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 493-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
GRANT D. MOSSOP ◽  
PETER D. FLACH
Keyword(s):  
Lower Cretaceous ◽  
Oil Sands ◽  
Athabasca Oil Sands ◽  
Mcmurray Formation ◽  
Deep Channel

Status of the Development and Application of Oil Sand

2012 ◽  
Vol 562-564 ◽  
pp. 367-370
Author(s):  
Jia He Chen
Keyword(s):  
Oil Sands ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Oil Sand ◽  
Unconventional Oil ◽  
Oil Resources ◽  
Conventional Oil

Oil and natural gas are important energy and chemical raw materials, its resources are gradually reduced. With the rapid development of the global economy, the conventional oil resources can’t meet the rapid growth of oil demand, people began turning to unconventional oil resources, one of which is the oil sands. Oil sands is unconventional oil resources, if its proven reserves are converted into oil, it will be much larger than the world's proven oil reserves. Canadian oil sands reserves stand ahead in the world, followed by the former Soviet Union, Venezuela, the United States and China. However, due to its special properties, different mining and processing technology, and higher mining costs compared with conventional oil, the research of oil sands makes slow progress. At present, due to the rising of world oil price, oil sands mining technology have attracted more and more attention, and have developed a lot.

Modeling of spatial distribution of passenger traffi c on interurban bus routes

Innotrans ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 31-36
Author(s):  
Alexander V. Martynenko ◽  
◽  
Alexander A. Shevtsov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Quantitative Description ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Practical Point ◽  
Ticket Price ◽  
Passenger Traffic ◽  
Correlation And Regression Analysis ◽  
Classical Gravity ◽  
Bus Service

This paper is devoted to the quantitative description of the spatial distribution of passenger traffic based on the classical gravity model on the example of interurban bus service between Yekaterinburg and other cities of the Sverdlovsk region. The influence of factors such as population, distance between localities, and ticket price on the volume of passenger traffic was studied. As a result of the correlation and regression analysis, it was found that both the distance between localities and the ticket price can be used as a measure of the remoteness of localities. However, the quality of the resulting regression model does not change. The spatial distribution of interurban bus passenger traffic depends on the measure of distance of localities from each other and the size of their population. Moreover, the size of the population is a much more significant factor than the measure of distance. From a practical point of view, this means that when predicting passenger traffic, demographic factors must first be taken into account.

scholarly journals Microbial Eukaryotes in Oil Sands Environments: Heterotrophs in the Spotlight

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 178
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Richardson ◽  
Joel B. Dacks
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Oil Sands ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Environmental Dna ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Oil Sand ◽  
Oil Reserves ◽  
Microbial Eukaryotes ◽  
Unconventional Oil ◽  
Hydrocarbon Extraction

Hydrocarbon extraction and exploitation is a global, trillion-dollar industry. However, for decades it has also been known that fossil fuel usage is environmentally detrimental; the burning of hydrocarbons results in climate change, and environmental damage during extraction and transport can also occur. Substantial global efforts into mitigating this environmental disruption are underway. The global petroleum industry is moving more and more into exploiting unconventional oil reserves, such as oil sands and shale oil. The Albertan oil sands are one example of unconventional oil reserves; this mixture of sand and heavy bitumen lying under the boreal forest of Northern Alberta represent one of the world’s largest hydrocarbon reserves, but extraction also requires the disturbance of a delicate northern ecosystem. Considerable effort is being made by various stakeholders to mitigate environmental impact and reclaim anthropogenically disturbed environments associated with oil sand extraction. In this review, we discuss the eukaryotic microbial communities associated with the boreal ecosystem and how this is affected by hydrocarbon extraction, with a particular emphasis on the reclamation of tailings ponds, where oil sands extraction waste is stored. Microbial eukaryotes, or protists, are an essential part of every global ecosystem, but our understanding of how they affect reclamation is limited due to our fledgling understanding of these organisms in anthropogenically hydrocarbon-associated environments and the difficulties of studying them. We advocate for an environmental DNA sequencing-based approach to determine the microbial communities of oil sands associated environments, and the importance of studying the heterotrophic components of these environments to gain a full understanding of how these environments operate and thus how they can be integrated with the natural watersheds of the region.

Geomechanical Effects on the SAGD Process

2007 ◽  
Vol 10 (04) ◽  
pp. 367-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Michael Collins
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Oil ◽  
Growth Pattern ◽  
Oil Sands ◽  
Elevated Temperatures ◽  
Design Stage ◽  
Western Canada ◽  
Oil Sand ◽  
Confining Stress ◽  
Steam Chamber ◽  
Elevated Pressures

Summary Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) is a robust thermal process that has revolutionized the economic recovery of heavy oil and bitumen from the immense oil-sands deposits in western Canada, which have 1.6 to 2.5 trillion bbl of oil in place. With steam injection, reservoir pressures and temperatures are raised. These elevated pressures and temperatures alter the rock stresses sufficiently to cause shear failure within and beyond the growing steam chamber. The associated increases in porosity, permeability, and water transmissibility accelerate the process. Pressures ahead of the steam chamber are substantially increased, promoting future growth of the steam chamber. A methodology for determining the optimum injection pressure for geomechanical enhancement is presented that allows operators to customize steam pressures to their reservoirs. In response, these geomechanical enhancements of porosity, permeability, and mobility alter the growth pattern of the steam chamber. The stresses in the rock will determine the directionality of the steam chamber growth; these are largely a function of the reservoir depth and tectonic loading. By anticipating the SAGD growth pattern, operators can optimize on the orientation and spacing of their wells. Core tests are essential for the determination of reservoir properties, yet oil sand core disturbance is endemic. Most core results are invalid, given the high core-disturbance results in test specimens. Discussion on the causes and mitigation of core disturbance is presented. Monitoring of the SAGD process is central to understanding where the process has been successful. Methods of monitoring the steam chamber are presented, including the use of satellite radar interferometry. Monitoring is particularly important to ensure caprock integrity because it is paramount that SAGD operations be contained within the reservoir. There are several quarter-billion-dollar SAGD projects in western Canada that are currently in the design stage. It is essential that these designs use a fuller understanding of the SAGD process to optimize well placement and facilities design. Only by including the interaction of SAGD and geomechanics can we achieve a more complete understanding of the process. Introduction Geomechanics examines the engineering behavior of rock formations under existing and imposed stress conditions. SAGD imposes elevated pressures and temperatures on the reservoir, which then has a geomechanical response. Typically, the SAGD process is used in unconsolidated sandstone reservoirs with very heavy oil or bitumen. In-situ viscosities can exceed 5 000 000 mPa•s [mPa•s º cp] under reservoir conditions. These bituminous unconsolidated sandstones, or "oil sands," are unique engineering materials for two reasons. Firstly, the bitumen is essentially a solid under virgin conditions, and secondly, the sands themselves are not loosely packed beach sands. Instead, they have a dense, interlocked structure that developed as a result of deeper burial and elevated temperatures over geological time. In western Canada, the silica pressure dissolution and redeposition over 120 million years developed numerous concave-convex grain contacts (Dusseault 1980a; Touhidi-Baghini 1998) in response to the additional rock overburden and elevated temperatures. As such, these oil sands are at a density far in excess of that expected under current or previous overburden stresses. Furthermore, once oil sands are disturbed, the grain rotations and dislocations preclude any return to their undisturbed state. Oil sands, by definition, have little to no cementation. As such, their strength is entirely dependent upon grain-to-grain contacts, which are considerable in their undisturbed state. These contacts are maintained by the effective confining stress. Any reduction in the effective confining stress will result in a reduction in strength. Because the SAGD process increases the formation fluid pressure, it reduces the effective stresses and weakens the oil sand.

Mineralogical and engineering index properties of the basal McMurray Formation clay shales

1979 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurice B. Dusseault ◽  
Don Scafe
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Index Properties ◽  
Oil Sand ◽  
Borehole Data ◽  
Tailings Disposal ◽  
Characteristic Index ◽  
Mcmurray Formation ◽  
Clay Shales ◽  
Shearing Resistance ◽  
Highwall Stability

Analysis of 83 specimens of the basal McMurray Formation clay shales (basal clays) has revealed a novel clay mineralogical suite: the clays are illite–kaolinite clays, but vermiculite and mixed-layer clays are present in significant amounts. Index and engineering behavior are affected: high compressibilities, low residual angles of shearing resistance, and low permeabilities are characteristic; index properties, however, are typical of illite–kaolinite clays.Comparison of outcrop and borehole data reveal significant differences between the sample sources.The location of the basal clays at the base of future open pits has implications for oil-sand development with respect to highwall stability and tailings disposal structures.

Heat Transfer in the Flow of Gases Around Oil Sand Spheres

1988 ◽  
Vol 110 (4) ◽  
pp. 276-278
Author(s):  
M. A. Abdrabboh ◽  
G. A. Karim
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Oil Sands ◽  
Reynolds Numbers ◽  
Spherical Particles ◽  
Dimensionless Temperature ◽  
Convective System ◽  
Oil Sand ◽  
Low Reynolds Numbers ◽  
Convection Heating ◽  
Free And Forced Convection

An experimental study was conducted for the combined free and forced convection heating of preshaped molded spherical particles of Athabasca oil sands in hot gaseous streams of air at low Reynolds numbers. Based on a quasi-steady system, the lumped-heat-capacity approximation was employed to estimate the heat transfer coefficient of the transient convective system for each prescribed set of experimental stream conditions. Correlation of the results was made in terms of the dimensionless Nusselt number as a function of the particle Reynolds number and a dimensionless temperature difference. The simple closed-form analytical expression of the correlation was shown to fit the experimental data well.

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