CONTROLLING AND ASSESSING PRESSURE CONDITIONS DURING TREATMENT OF TAR SANDS FORMATIONS

A method for treating a tar sands formation includes providing heat to at least part of a hydrocarbon layer in the tar sands formation from a plurality of heaters located in the formation. Heat is allowed to transfer from the heaters to at least a portion of the formation. A pressure in the portion...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors BEER, GARY LEE, ZHANG, ETUAN
Format Patent
LanguageEnglish
French
Published 24.11.2015
Subjects
EARTH DRILLING
EARTH DRILLING, e.g. DEEP DRILLING
FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
MINING
OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR ASLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS
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Summary:A method for treating a tar sands formation includes providing heat to at least part of a hydrocarbon layer in the tar sands formation from a plurality of heaters located in the formation. Heat is allowed to transfer from the heaters to at least a portion of the formation. A pressure in the portion of the formation is controlled such that the pressure remains below a fracture pressure of the formation overburden while allowing the portion of the formation to heat to a selected average temperature of at least about 280 °C and at most about 300 °C. The pressure in the portion of the formation is reduced to a selected pressure after the portion of the formation reaches the selected average temperature.
Bibliography:Application Number: CA20082684466