About this Event
The development of the Lower Cretaceous Clearwater Fm in central Alberta using open-hole multilaterals (OHMLs) is currently considered to be the most profitable play in North America. The reservoir characteristics of this play are substantially different from its better-known counterpart in the Cold Lake area, which has been developed since the 1960’s by thermal recovery methods. In central Alberta, the reservoir characteristics (porosity, permeability, oil saturations and pay thickness) and oil viscosities can be substantially lower. As a result, this area has been essentially overlooked until recently because of what was perceived to be a low-quality and uneconomic resource.
That perspective changed with the advent of the use of OHMLs to deplete the resource. Under primary production, these inexpensive wells can pay out in less than one year with several multiple payouts over their productive lives. Yet the average recovery expectation for the wells on primary depletion has been generally assumed to be in the range of 5% OOIP due to significant decline rates.
Initial small-scale waterfloods were undertaken starting in 2018 to determine if recovery could be increased. Despite early uncertainty on whether the Clearwater reservoir properties would be amenable to waterflooding, field results have clearly demonstrated that water injection has been able to stabilize – and reverse – rate declines. The sense within the industry is now that waterflooding can recover 2-3 times the recovery of primary depletion.
But it is still very early days in the lives of the waterfloods. The initial uncertainty in terms of waterflood applicability has been replaced by uncertainties in (1) timing of the water breakthrough, (2) post-breakthrough decline behaviour, (3) ultimate recoveries. Challenges remain for engineers and geoscientists to better understand and characterize fluid flow in the reservoir to maximize the performance of the waterfloods and the resource. These challenges arise from (1) a process that has limitations that are inherent in using an OHML design, and (2) a reservoir for which there is limited delineation data outside of the developed areas as well as limited use for seismic information.
This presentation will provide additional details on the Clearwater resource and its applicability for waterflooding, along with examples illustrating the success of waterflooding and comparing the performance of the waterfloods to date against historical waterfloods in heavy oil reservoirs. It will then focus on the “state-of-the-art” for geoscientists and engineers that are involved in developing, understanding and optimizing the waterfloods. Finally, it will explore some possible risked outlooks for the performance of open-hole multi-laterals (OHMLs) in waterflooding of the Clearwater.
Event venue & nearby stays
Alberta Innovates/InnoTech Alberta, 250 Karl Clark Road Northwest, Edmonton, Canada
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