Imperial Oil, majority owned by ExxonMobil Corp., produces an
average of more than 140,000 b/d of bitumen from the Cold Lake
deposit via cyclic steam stimulation. ExxonMobil Upstream
Research said the steam injection technology, developed by
Imperial at Cold Lake, improves regulation and distribution of
steam in long horizontal wells, reducing the number of wells
required, lowering operating costs by cutting steam consumption,
and improving bitumen recovery. The system has two key
components. One is an externally mounted screen section that
facilitates contact between the well and reservoir. The other is
one or more small flow orifices beneath the screen section that
create the desired level of flow restriction between the inside
of the pipe and the reservoir. The technology allows control of
steam into the formation over the full length of a horizontal
well. In steam-assisted gravity drainage developments, it can be
used in injector and producer wells to manage steam
distribution. Eddie Lui, Imperial vice-pr