Oil Sands

GeoContainment™ Evaluation

For Oil Sands & Heavy Oil Enhanced Recovery

What is GeoContainment™ ?

GeoContainment is critical to the success and safety of enhanced oil recovery schemes such as Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD), Cyclic Steam Stimulation (CSS), waterflood and solvent-based enhance oil recovery processes. Such processes involve the injection of steam or other fluids into the reservoir at high pressure (and potentially high temperature) in order to mobilize the heavy oil/bitumen. Rock layers directly above these types of reservoirs, known as the caprock, is a non-permeable formation acting as a seal. In order to control the mobility of steam, bitumen, waste or formation fluid, the caprock must display sufficient hydraulic and mechanical integrity to withstand injection pressures in an in-situ production. Evaluation of the underburden seal is also important in some applications to ensure complete GeoContainment. In recent years the number of caprock failures in the oil sands has made subsurface GeoContainment critical for public safety and environmental protection.

Please refer to the Caprock Integrity Study page for an example of how BGES can help.

Caprock Integrity Testing At-A-Glance

Integration of Services

From wellsite core collection, geotechnical lab testing, cased-hole logging, reservoir and caprock injection testing, data analyses, project management, regulatory reporting, to computer simulation and numerical modelling, our comprehensive and customizable service model offers maximum flexibility for our clients.

Core Preservation and Management

Once the caprock cores arrive at our geotechnical lab, BGES ensures diligent preservation and management to maintain their integrity. We handle the cores with extreme care, immediately placing them in a controlled environment to preserve the original rock properties. This crucial step ensures that subsequent testing reflects the true characteristics of the caprock in the reservoir. After safe transport to our lab in Calgary, the cores undergo further processing and detailed analysis by our experienced technical professionals, ensuring high-quality results and reliable data for caprock evaluation.

Geotechnical Laboratory with High-Temp Triaxial Analysis

Triaxial tests generate essential inputs for caprock modelling and are therefore necessary to determine caprock integrity in thermal operations. BGES specializes in testing caprock core for steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) and cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) applications. The company has developed proprietary processes for acquiring, storing, transporting and testing caprock samples, and is home to one of the few high-temp full core triaxial testing apparatus in Calgary. Our deliverable includes a detailed analysis on lab results completed by highly-qualified technical professionals.

Mini-Frac / DFIT

A critical component of determining caprock integrity is the determination of in-situ stresses, which cannot be measured directly by any tools. Mini-frac (or DFIT) is one of the most common and reliable techniques for indirectly measuring the formation’s minimum in-situ stress.

BGES’ analysis approach provides consistent interpretation using a combination of diagnostic tools to give the most dependable results. A comprehensive analysis and interpretation of results is conducted by experienced technical professionals.

Step Rate Test (SRT)

Step-rate injectivity test has been a proven method for effectively determining the formation parting pressure (or FPP). AER’s Directive 51 uses this pressure to determine the maximum injection pressure in injection/disposal wells. The initial injection rate, appropriate time steps and rate increments are critical to the success of an SRT.

BGES utilizes a test simulator along with a multi-stage method to carefully design the injection schedule. We are experienced in designing and successfully executing SRT’s to satisfy regulatory requirements.

Water Mobility Test

For thermal simulation models, the bitumen-bearing formation’s water permeability is a valuable piece of information. Water mobility testing (or cold water injectivity) is a reliable technique for obtaining in-situ permeability data beyond the near-wellbore region. This type of tests can help obtain a reliable description of the reservoir’s water permeability, heterogeneities (layering, fractures, etc.), and other parameters of interest. When multiple wells and/or multiple test intervals are used, a series of test can be designed to detect vertical and/or horizontal communication. BGES provides a detailed analysis on data collected with a comprehensive interpretation by technical professionals.

Surface & Downhole Data Acquisition

BGES provides a wide selection of reliable and cost-effective surface and downhole pressure, temperature and rate monitoring solutions for reservoir and/or water zone monitoring, isolation testing, and interference/communication testing, etc. These services can work in conjunction with our injection units to perform specialized injection tests. Collected data can be conveniently viewed in real-time from your office or on your mobile phone.

Cased-Hole Logging

BGES is highly skilled in conducting a full suite of cased-hole logging, perforating, and related auxiliary services. With over 23 years of experience in wireline services, we are dedicated to helping customers with any complex wireline projects in the most challenging environments. We take pride in being an end-to-end provider of a wide spectrum of logging, perforating and testing needs.

Production Optimization

BGES offers various unique services to help operators optimize and de-bottleneck their production. Water mobility testing, as mentioned above, are conducted improve the accuracy of reservoir models and troubleshoot production challenges. Specialty perforating services such as thermal recovery scheme high-temperature TCP and well-pair ranging are carefully designed to optimize reservoir management and improve productivity.

Hydrogeology Study / Analysis

Hydrogeology studies are essential for oil sands projects, particularly in understanding the reservoir fluid’s hydrochemistry and properties, which play a critical role in reservoir modeling. The characteristics of groundwater, such as its flow, composition, and interaction with reservoir fluids, impact the overall dynamics of the reservoir. BGES offers comprehensive hydrogeology services, focusing on the characterization, assessment, and modeling of groundwater sources and movement within oil sands reservoirs.

Project Management & Consulting

BGES offers various unique services to help operators optimize and de-bottleneck their production. Water mobility testing, as mentioned above, are conducted improve the accuracy of reservoir models and troubleshoot production challenges. High-temperature TCP is carefully designed to improve productivity for thermal recovery operations.

Thermal Simulation / Numerical Modelling

Thermal reservoir and geomechanical simulations are conducted simultaneously to predict the stress changes in the caprock during thermal recovery operations. They are necessary to ensure that the steam injected stays in the producing formation supporting production as well as to ensure safe operations. Reservoir modelling is heavily dependent on having right input in the model. This involves good data quality control, sound geological interpretation and correct model setup. The reservoir description typically begins with a geological model. The most critical areas, from a caprock perspective, are selected to provide a maximum operating pressure. At BGES, simulation work is performed by experienced subject matter experts.