Reducing the energy required to produce a barrel of oil - Pathways Alliance

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Reducing the energy required to produce a barrel of oil

May 3, 2023

Canadian Natural is piloting using solvent for enhanced oil recovery. When used in combination with heat, solvent technology will increase oil recovery, improve steam efficiency and reduce operating expenses to achieve reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water use and land footprint.

Solvent Enhanced Oil Recovery

Solvent technologies will play a significant role in creating value across all of our thermal operations on our journey to net zero emissions. In typical thermal oil sands operations, water is heated to create steam that mixes with bitumen and reduces viscosity so it can be pumped to the surface. When solvent is added, the process requires less steam and operates at a lower temperature—letting heat do half of the job to improve bitumen viscosity, with solvent doing the other half.

As a result, the steam-to-oil ratio (SOR) and the amount of water needed overall is significantly reduced, leading to lower operating expenses for steam and water treatment. In addition to the enhanced project economics, solvent EOR can achieve important environmental performance improvements with up to 50% lower GHG emissions intensity and improved water use intensity.

Canadian Natural’s pilot at Kirby South tested solvent effectiveness to improve oil recovery in a steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) process, showing SOR and GHG intensity reductions of 45% through the pilot process, as well as solvent recoveries of approximately 85%. Canadian Natural is now progressing with engineering and design of a commercial-scale pilot SAGD pad development at Kirby North, targeting first solvent injection in early 2024.

At Primrose, in the steam flood area, a solvent injection pilot commenced in Q4 2021. This pilot consists of nine net wells (five producers and four injectors) and is targeted to operate for two years, with targeted SOR and GHG intensity reductions of 40% to 45% and solvent recoveries of greater than 70%.

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