The combination of global warming and peak oil has made finding alternative sources of energy more important than ever. Written in an easy-to-read format, Oil Sands Production Processes provide the reader with an understandable overview of the chemistry, engineering, and technology of oil sands. The various chapters have been written to include the latest developments in the oil sands industry, including evolving and new processes as well as the various environmental regulations. - Overview of the chemistry, engineering, and technology of oil sands - Updates on the evolving processes and new processes - Evolving and new environmental regulations regarding oil sands production processes

Produced sand causes a lot of problems. From that reasons sand production must be monitored and kept within acceptable limits. Sand control problems in wells result from improper completion techniques or changes in reservoir properties. The idea is to provide support to the formation to prevent movement under stresses resulting from fluid flow from reservoir to well bore. That means that sand control often result with reduced well production. Control of sand production is achieved by: reducing drag forces (the cheapest and most effective method), mechanical sand bridging (screens, gravel packs) and increasing of formation strength (chemical consolidation). For open hole completions or with un-cemented slotted liners/screens sand failure will occur and must be predicted. Main problem is plugging. To combat well failures due to plugging and sand breakthrough Water-Packing or Shunt-Packing are used.

As conventional-oil resources are depleted worldwide, vast heavy oil reserves available in various parts of the world become increasingly important as a secure future energy source. Brief but readable, Heavy Oil Production Processes discusses the latest improvements in production processes including; thermal methods (steam floods, cyclic steam stimulation, SAGD) as well as non-thermal methods (cold flow with sand production, cyclic solvent process, VAPEX). The book begins with an overview of the chemistry, engineering, and technology of heavy oil as they evolve into the twenty-first century. The preceding chapters are written to provide a basic understanding of each technology, evolving processes and new processes as well as the various environmental regulations. Clear and rigorous, Heavy Oil Production Processes will prove useful for those scientists and engineers already engaged in fossil fuel science and technology as well as scientists, non-scientists, engineers, and non-engineers who wish to gain a general overview or update of the science and technology of fossil fuels. The not only does the book discuss the production processes but also provides methods which should reduce environmental footprint and improve profitability. - Overview of the chemistry, engineering, and technology of oil sands - Updates on the evolving processes and new processes - Evolving and new environmental regulations regarding oil sands production

The cold production process involves the simultaneous production of heavy oil containing large numbers of small bubbles of exsolved gas and sand from vertical wells through the use of progressive cavity pumps. A critical component of the process is the initiation of sand production, which occurs at the casing perforations and also in the near wellbore region and in the far-field. Development of predictive models for initiation of sand production requires identification of the dominant initiation mechanisms. This paper assesses the capability of sand matrix failure models to act as predictive tools for initiation of sand production. It compares the critical pressure gradients for sand production predicted by these models with the pressure gradients observed under field conditions and in laboratory experiments.

In this in-depth analysis of First Nations opposition to the oil sands industry, James Heydon offers detailed empirical insight into Canadian oil sands regulation. The environmental consequences of the oil sands industry have been thoroughly explored by scholars from a variety of disciplines. However, less well understood is how and why the provincial energy regulator has repeatedly sanctioned such a harmful pattern of production for almost two decades. This research monograph addresses that shortcoming. Drawing from interviews with government, industry, and First Nation personnel, along with an analysis of almost 20 years of policy, strategy, and regulatory approval documents, Sustainable Development as Environmental Harm offers detailed empirical insight into Canadian oil sands regulation. Providing a thorough account of the ways in which the regulatory process has prioritised economic interests over the land-based cultural interests of First Nations, it addresses a gap in the literature by explaining how environmental harm has been systematically produced over time by a regulatory process tasked with the pursuit of ‘sustainable development’. With an approach emphasizing the importance of understanding how and why the regulatory process has been able to circumvent various protections for the entire duration in which the contemporary oil sands industry has existed, this work complements existing literature and provides a platform from which future investigations into environmental harm may be conducted. It is essential reading for those with an interest in green criminology, environmental harm, indigenous rights, and regulatory controls relating to fossil fuel production.

This book investigates sand production problems in the development of unconsolidated sand reservoirs and suggests novel technical solutions and improvements to sand management issues. This book is divided into six chapters: (1) geologic characteristics of unconsolidated sand heavy oil reservoirs and concept of sand management technology; (2) sand production mechanisms and its effect on reservoir petrophysical quality; (3) sand production quantity prediction and well productivity evaluation methods, especially for fluid-solid coupling prediction model; (4) completion technology for sand management; (5) sand flow in well bore and surface processing; (6) the application of sand management technology in China’s Bohai heavy oil field. Readership: Petroleum reservoir engineers and production managers worldwide.

When it comes to future reliable oil supplies, Canada¿s oil sands will likely account for a greater share of U.S. oil imports. In 2008 oil sands accounted for 46% of Canada¿s total oil production and oil sands production is increasing as conventional oil production declines. Since 2004, when a substantial portion of Canada¿s oil sands were deemed economic, Canada has ranked second behind Saudi Arabia in oil reserves. As oil sands production in Canada is predicted to increase to 2.8 million barrels per day by 2015, environ. issues are a cause for concern. Contents of this report: (1) Intro.; (2) World Oil Sands Reserves and Resources: What Are Oil Sands?; U.S. and Canada Oil Sand Resources; (3) History of Development. Charts and tables.