heavy oil

Will the oil fields of today become the hydrogen fields of tomorrow? Calgary-based Proton Technologies says this is possible and hopes to prove it soon after inking multiple licensing deals with other oil and gas companies.

The two Calgary-based heavy-oil companies have closed on their all-stock deal that was valued at around $2.9 billion when it was announced in October.

One of North America’s biggest midstream companies is getting a new chief in the new year. He will oversee the construction of a 1,200-mile-long pipeline that has been a decade in the making.

ExxonMobil is reluctant to join other big oil companies writing down the value of their reserves. It could chop its reserves by 20%, but it has not made a final decision.

The country’s once-thriving railway system has skidded to a stall, falling victim to low crude-oil prices, reduced demand, and government-imposed oil production cuts.

For years Canadian heavy-oil production exceeded the volumes pipelines could handle.

The $8-billion pipeline project has been held up for years, but amid a historic price crash, the Canadian government is stepping in with funding to support exports.

Reviewing a myriad of papers presented at different conferences during the past year, I can group the current trends in heavy-oil operations and research into two major categories: Process optimization and use of chemicals as additives to steam and water.

Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) performance in bitumen-recovery projects in Alberta is affected by geological deposits, reservoir quality, and operational experience.

Although polymer flooding has become a promising enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technique, no field tests have been performed to date in Alaska’s underdeveloped heavy-oil reservoirs.