Northeastern Alberta
Southern Pacific McKay project builds momentum as oil being shipped by rail south Southern Pacific Resource Corp. reported the wellbores for even temperature conincreasing production from its STP-McKay formance and to allow adequate time for Thermal Project in Alberta in January, the development and growth of the steam along with the arrival of the first shipment assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) chamof diluted bitumen from STP-McKay into bers within the oilsands reservoir. The 12 Mississippi. SAGD well pairs that were initially drilled Bitumen production at the STP-McKay are equipped with comprehensive subsurface measurement of temperature and Thermal Project, located 45 kilometres northwest of Fort McMurray, continues to ramp up. Steady rail shipments of dilbit from STP-McKay have In December 2012, the estimated average bitunow commenced and are being shipped to Natchez. men production rate was 1,200 barrels per day, up 22 per cent from the previous month’s pressure, and have multiple steam delivery average rate. As the company has previously and production recovery points within each stated, it is expected to take 12–18 months well. Southern Pacific is being conservative from first oil production, which occurred in in the initial stages of converting the well mid-October 2012, for total rates to approach pairs from circulation to SAGD, utilizing the the 12,000-barrel-per-day design capacity. downhole technology that was installed to ensure even temperature conformance and The ramp-up period is required to condition
25 Years!
chamber development have occurred along the horizontal length of the wells before the wells are converted to steady-state SAGD. This approach is designed to ensure the longterm integrity of the wellbores and to assist in maximizing the total recovery of bitumen from each well pair over its producing life. To date, seven of the 12 well pairs have been fully converted. The remaining five well pairs are at various stages of circulation and will be converted to full SAGD operation when Southern Pacific’s technical staff deem appropriate. Although the process of circulation and conversion takes time, steady progress is occurring and once the conversion to SAGD operation has been completed, the well pairs will be operating predictably. The surface facilities at McKay continue to perform well despite having been exposed to extended periods of bitterly low temperatures. All systems within the
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