New oil company Cenovus to develop Narrows Lake oil sands
Friday, October 2, 2009 at 05:42PM EnCana Corp., which expects to complete by November 30 a reorganization that will see the company split into two energy companies, one for natural gas the other, Cenovus Energy Inc., an integrated oil company, plans a new multi-billion dollar oil sands project in Alberta. The new entity will develop the Narrows Lake project, which will produce 80,000–120,000 barrels a day. This would double EnCana's present oil sands output.
Narrows Lake operations will incorporate technology that the company says will reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the same time as saving production costs.
The technique is a blend of steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), which uses pressurized steam to free bitumen from underground rock, and a new "solvent-aided process" that adds substances such as butane or propane to the heated water. This has been shown to free the bitumen from the oil sands more efficiently.
The recovery of oil is expressed as a steam-to-oil ratio (the number of barrels of steam required to produce a barrel of oil). Using SAGD, the steam-to-oil ratio is 2:1. Adding solvents could improve that ratio to 1:5. The improved recovery rate will allow the company to build fewer wells. Using current methods, wells must be drilled every 100 metres. With the new method, the distance between wells can be increased to 130 metres.
EnCana plans to make its first regulatory application for Narrows Lake, in the northeast of the province, midway through next year.The project would begin producing oil in about six to seven years.
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