The JCPTand the Canadian Association for the WPC agreed that itwould be a timely and valued service to readers and delegates to the 17th WorldPetroleum Congress to publish a series of articles reviewing several keypetroleum technologies receiving attention in Canada. Distinguished authoritieson the technologies agreed to contribute short summary articles on Canadianresearch and field experience in specific areas. These articles are included inthis issue: The Evolution of Imperial Oil's Cold Lake Development by Raj Patel and BruceRauch Innovative Steam Injection Techniques Overcome Adverse Reservoir Conditionsby S.M. Farouq Ali Air Injection for Oil Recovery by Gord Moore, Raj Mehta, and MatthewUrsenbach Suncor's Path to Growth - Oil Sands Projects and Technology by K.C.Yeung Downhole Oil/Water Separation's Canadian Roots by Bruce Peachey and ToddZahacy Canada's Recovered Sulphur - In the World Class by Jim Hyne VAPEX - A Unique Canadian Technology by Swapan Das Canada - World Leader in Hydrocarbon Miscible Flooding by Nick Mungan Bitumen Recovery From Athabasca Oil Sands by Jacob Masliyah Computalog's LWD System Designed for Deepwater Drilling Environments byKevin Brady

This paper was aeleoted for presentation by an SPE Program Committee foiiowing review of information containedIn an abatrad submitted by the author(a). tinte~Of the PWW, aa presented, have not been raviewad by the %Mety of Petroleum Enginaera and ara subjecx to oorraction by tha author(a). Tha material, aa preaentad, -e nOf n~riiy rafkf any poaltion of the Sociity of Petroleum Enginaera, ita officers, or mambars. Papers pmaanted at SPE maetlngs are aubjacf to publication review by Editoriai Committals of the Society of Petroleum Engineers Permieakm to mpy Is restricted to an abatraci of motmore than S00 words. iliuatratbne may not be COIJM. The abafract ahou!d contain mrrap4Wcma acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is preeanted. Write Librarian, SPE, P.O. SOX SS3SS6, Richardson,~7~, U.S.A. Telex, 19S245 SPEW. ABSTRACTAs an oil zone thins during the mat-stages of a vertical

Esso operates fifteen reservoirs in the Pembina Nisku area, and of these, seven are being miscibly flooded (Vertical Hydrocarbon Miscible Floods). The miscible floods are now in an advanced stage of depletion. As the oil banks in these reservoirs continue to thin, solvent coning is becoming a concern and individual wells have to be choked back. The objective of drilling horizontal wells in these reservoirs is to allow us to maintain oil productivity without solvent coning and also to increase reserves by decreasing the sandwich loss. The first horizontal well was drilled in the Pembina Nisku "K" pool in 1989. The well initially produced solvent but was successfully worked over and has now been producing at solution gas oil ratios for approximately one year. Since then, Esso Resources Canada Limited has drilled two more horizontal wells in the Pembina Nisku "M" and "Q" pools.

No abstract

As an oil zone thins during the mature stages of a vertical miscible or immiscible flood, oil production becomes dominated by coning of water, gas and / or miscible solvent. This results in lower revenues and increased operating costs which in turn accelerates well abandonment. In contrast to the early operations of a pool, the remaining oil volumes which are increasingly at risk have access to only limited capital. Coning therefore is controlled by conventional techniques such as re-completions, choking back oil production or intermittent operation. As the effectiveness of these techniques becomes reduced, other less conventional approaches are sought. Such techniques as the placement of polymeric agents or the injection of oil or water to divert the coning fluids, are becoming attractive because of their low capital requirements. In support of the present work, scaled laboratory experiments and numerical simulation studies have demonstrated the recovery benefits using fluid injection as a way to maintain production from a thinning oil sandwich. Currently, Imperial Oil is developing oil re-injection technology to increase recoveries by 1.5 to 3 percent of the original oil-in-place (OOIP) by reducing solvent coning in a number of their vertical miscible flood pools located in the Pembina Nisku area. A pilot project evaluating this technology has been in operation for nearly a year. After overcoming a number of start-up and other operational problems, the pilot has demonstrated that oil re-injection can successfully control GOR. History matching the pilot performance has confirmed the design approach and performance expectations. Based on the encouraging results, four more projects have been planned for start-up in 1994.