STP-McKay bitumen production phase starts

Oct. 11, 2012
Southern Pacific Resource Corp., Calgary, has begun converting the first of 12 well pairs at its STP-McKay thermal oil sands project west of Fort McMurray, Alta., from steam circulation to bitumen production.

Southern Pacific Resource Corp., Calgary, has begun converting the first of 12 well pairs at its STP-McKay thermal oil sands project west of Fort McMurray, Alta., from steam circulation to bitumen production.

Steaming at the steam-assisted gravity drainage project began in July after the company decided to expand first-phase design capacity of the development to 18,000 b/d of bitumen (OGJ Online, May 11, 2012).

A second phase will increase total capacity to 36,000 b/d.

Additional well pairs will be converted to production over the next several weeks, and steam injection volumes will increase. Each well pair is expected to take 12-18 months to reach peak production rates.