Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority (Aostra) has agreed with Shell Canada Ltd. to share the costs of a project to recover oil from oilsands near Peace River, Alta.
Under the agreement, provincially owned Aostra will contribute 50% of the costs, to as much as $6.5 million (Canadian), to develop oilsands at Shell's Peace River plant using steam assisted gravity drainage techniques developed at Aostra's underground test site in northern Alberta (OGJ, Aug. 31, p. 26).
Shell and Aostra will share the right to license the technology worldwide, and Aostra will recover its contribution through revenue generated during the life of the project, which is to start up in spring 1993.
Shell Canada recently bought partner Pecten Canada Ltd.'s interest in the 10,000 b/d oilsands plant (OGJ, Sept. 28, p. 37). Production is to increase by about 1,000 b/d using steam assisted gravity drainage.
Scott McDonald, Shell Canada manager of oil development, said, "With regulatory approval, we plan to drill two pairs of horizontal wells and. produce from the reservoir using Aostra's steam assisted gravity drainage process and our own enhancements to the process."
If successful, Shell plans to use the technology to further develop Peace River oilsands. The company owns 60,000 acres in the area that hold an estimated 14 billion bbl of bitumen.
Copyright 1992 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
