NORTH AMERICAN OIL SANDS: HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT, PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE - Energy Research Developments: Tidal Energy, Energy Efficiency and Solar Energy - page 297

Source : Oil Sands Technology Roadmap, p. 28.

Figure 4. In-SITU Recovery.

Table 2. Leading Oil Sands Producers
(barrels per day)

Planned
Production
Targets

Type of
Project

2006
1st Quarter

Project Owner 2002 2003

Suncor Mining 206,000 217,000 264,400 410,000

Syncrude Mining 230,000 212,000 205,000 560,00

Athabasca Oil Sands (Shell,
Chevron, and Marathon Oil)a

Mining N/A 130,000 77,400 525,000

Imperial Oil In-situ 112,000 130,000 150,000 180,000

CNRL In-situ N/A 35,000 122,000 500,000

Petro Canada In-situ 4,500 16,000 21,000

(2005)

100,000

EnCana In-situ N/A 5,300 36,000 250,000

Source : Oil Sands Industry Update , Alberta Economic Development, 2004 and 2006.
a . Marathon Oil Corp. acquired Western Oil Sands, Inc. on October 18, 2007.

Production Technology
For in-situ thermal recovery, wells are drilled, then steam is injected to heat the bitumen
so it flows like conventional oil. In-situ production involves using various techniques.
One technique is the Cyclic Steam Stimulator (CSS), also known as “huff and puff.” CSS
is the most widely used in-situ technology. In this process, steam is added to the oil sands via
vertical wells, and the liquefied bitumen is pumped to the surface using the same well.