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Connacher is a growing exploration, development and production company with a focus on producing bitumen and expanding its in-situ oil sands projects located near Fort McMurray, Alberta

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Message: Steam/Oil Ratio (SOR)

Steam/Oil Ratio (SOR)

posted on Mar 18, 2010 07:01PM

We are experiencing increasingly reliable production from our first oil sands plant at Great Divide Pod One. Our Pod One nameplate steam generating capacity is slightly in excess of 27,000 bbl/d. With the installation of nine additional downhole pumps scheduled for April and September and with continued steam injection optimization, we are targeting an average steam/oil ratio ("SOR") of 3.2 in 2010. Accordingly, this should result in Pod One bitumen production averaging in excess of 8,500 bbl/d in 2010.

I'll make one comment. The way this is worded almost suggests that the constraint on pod1 output is the amount of steam. The SOR is still too high, and should be under 3.0. Ultimately, getting the SOR under 3.0 will be a very important metric. But at the moment, it almost sounds like the SOR is the root cause of the problem, in that the slightly-less-than-optimal SOR means that they are hitting a wall for what steam they can produce. Am I misreading this? If they designed for around 27,000-28,000 SGC but assumed that the reservoir's characteristics would permit a SOR down around 3.0 or even 2.95, is this the reason why production is lagging? That would explain why electric submersible pumps are being used to augment production, if the steam cannot be ramped up any further?

I think we need a professional interpretation from one of the engineers familiar with the process.


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