View article

To optimize SAGD well-pair placement and improve thermal recovery operations, geochemical bitumen composition logs are used to identify barriers and baffles to fluid flow, which may compartmentalize McMurray Formation reservoirs in the Athabasca Oil Sands. SAGD steam chamber growth and cumulative steam oil ratios are sensitive to both vertical permeability and bitumen viscosity variations, which are commonly encountered in the oil sands reservoirs. In the McMurray Formation, tidally influenced meandering channel deposits are commonly vertically stacked, forming reservoir columns up to 80 m thick. In many instances, inclined heterolithic strata (IHS), consisting of interbedded sand and silt deposited on point bars, comprise barriers to vertical steam chamber growth at multiple horizons of a reservoir. Thus, the identification, characterization, and delineation of IHS intervals is a critical step for …