Regina 鈥� The key organization that backs much of the petroleum research in this province is the aptly-named Petroleum Technology Research Centre, located in Innovation Place on the University of Regina campus. The PTRC has been working in close contact with the Saskatchewan Research Council, University of Regina, and numerous other agencies for over two decades now.
The PTRC was founded with one principle motivation 鈥� to find ways to get more oil out of Saskatchewan large, but challenging, original oil in place.
Dan MacLean took over as the president and CEO of the PTRC two years ago. Asked on Feb. 28 where are we right now, and were do we need to go, MacLean said, 鈥淪askatchewan is the leader in research in CO2 sequestration into deep saline reservoirs.鈥�
In the last week of February and first week of March, three Chinese delegations came together to visit Saskatchewan and learn about the implementation of CO2 for enhanced oil recovery. The PTRC was part of a reception by the University of Regina for that mission, and also offered workshops on its areas of expertise, in coordination with the Regina-based International Carbon Capture and Storage Knowledge Centre. The bulk of the Chinese contingent came from Sinopec, one of China鈥檚 major nationally-owned oil companies.
鈥淪inopec is here to talk about that. They鈥檙e working closely with the University of Regina and the Knowledge Centre. We鈥檙e providing color, in particular, on Aquistore. The Knowledge Centre鈥檚 mandate is to share the CCUS (carbon capture utilization and storage) message around the world. Primarily, they seem to be focusing on the Chinese. They鈥檝e had numerous conversations with them over the years, and it鈥檚 a natural extension for them to come here,鈥� MacLean said.
Asked if China could, in the upcoming years, use CO2 for enhanced oil recovery like southeast Saskatchewan has, he responded, 鈥淭here鈥檚 a continuum of work being done on two fronts 鈥� on the carbon capture side of it, and, on a broader side, what do you do with the CO2? The natural thing, the thing historically we鈥檝e done with CO2, is to try to use it to improve oil recovery. Weyburn is the example here. We鈥檝e been doing it for 20 years, injecting CO2, storing it 鈥� it is a sequestration mechanism 鈥� and one of the byproducts happens to be you improve oil and gas recovery from it.
鈥淭he second thing is Aquistore. If you can鈥檛 use it in an EOR (enhanced oil recovery) scheme, then you store it. You put it away. It鈥檚 not really storage. It鈥檚 disposal. Aquistore, in particular, you鈥檙e putting it into a saline reservoir. If you were to turn that around and try to re-produce it out of the saline formation, you probably wouldn鈥檛 be able to. It鈥檚 locked into the rock.
鈥淏ut what else can you do with CO2? That鈥檚 where we鈥檙e going with this. I鈥檝e talked to PTAC 鈥� the Petroleum Technology Alliance of Canada 鈥� they鈥檙e located in Alberta, they鈥檙e the equivalent of us.鈥�
MacLean said he regularly confers with the president of PTAC to ensure they鈥檙e not duplicating efforts. 鈥淚f there鈥檚 something happening in Alberta, let鈥檚 try it here. I鈥檓 not married to a made-in-Saskatchewan solution, if there鈥檚 an opportunity to apply a technology that we can use to apply here to improve oil and gas recovery.鈥�
Recent conversations have included converting CO2 into other products like methanol. In British Columbia, the Gates Foundation and Canadian Natural Resources Limited are working on other applications for CO2, he noted. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no reason we couldn鈥檛 look at that sort of stuff here.鈥�
Beyond CO2
鈥淲e sit on 56 billion of barrels of oil in this province. Under current recovery mechanisms, we may only get 10 to 12 per cent of that out of the ground. So there鈥檚 this huge target, sitting out there. On the heavy oil side, with our industry partners we鈥檙e working with, they鈥檙e saying there鈥檚 probably a billion barrels of incremental oil that could be unlocked using technologies PTRC, with their support, are looking at. We鈥檙e looking at various types of vapour and solvent injection into our cold flow production here.
鈥淪o what鈥檚 the next big thing in that? That鈥檚 what we鈥檙e trying to find out. Our challenge here is you do these things in the lab, but you can鈥檛 just do one or two. You鈥檝e got to do a lot of them. This is almost classic oilfield exploration, but it鈥檚 exploring for new recovery mechanisms. In the exploration world, a one-in-ten risk is kinda normal, so I鈥檓 looking at that for us, one-in-ten. So every year, we fund up to about ten projects, between the U of R, and SRC, and our industry partners in the Heavy Oil Research Network (HORNET). We鈥檇 like to hope that one out of ten of those projects could be applied in the field. So you do the bench analysis here, you identify the one or two that might work, and get industry partners to use one or two of their wells to try it out in the field.
鈥淎nd that鈥檚 another story. It still might not work in the field. But it鈥檚 all about building confidence, so that one-in-ten in the lab, okay, I鈥檝e got confidence. Then you put that one project in the field, and still those field results don鈥檛 look right. Reality in the field versus the lab just don鈥檛 line up. So you do another one, and another one, and this is a continuum. We do this every year. There鈥檚 ten more funded projects, and then ten more, and then ten more, and then ten more, with the hope that one or two along the line are going to click and we鈥檒l pull the trigger on something really important.鈥�
A few years ago, one project involved trying to send tiny sensors between wells via the wormholes (void spaces) that are characteristic of heavy oil fields. But that project鈥檚 initial promise proved not to garner results in the field, and is now dead.听 This is the way bench scale moves to the field 鈥� hit and miss 鈥� and PTRC along with its researchers at different organizations keep working on other ideas.
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