Sunridge Energy has signed a binding letter agreement with private US based Current Environmental Solutions (CES). The agreement gives Sunridge a five year exclusive license to use CES’s proprietary technology within the Alberta oil sands area to assist in the extraction of heavy oil. CES has the option to participate in any project in which Sunridge participates within the oil sands. Using CES’s proprietary technology (Six-Phase Oil Heating), Sunridge has an opportunity to extract oil from depths that were previously too deep to mine and too shallow to use high pressure steam injection (SAGD).
The oil sands are the second largest petroleum reserve in the world with current technologies focusing on 75 m deep excavation deposits or deep steam injections in excess of 175-275 m. CES’s technology is best
suited for the shallow-depth zones from 75 m to 175 m, which capitalises on a major untapped reserve in the oil sands. On a section of land (640 acres), there are potentially over 100 million barrels of oil in place at this depth. There are hundreds of sections of land in Alberta that contains oil sands that are too deep for surface mining and are potential candidates for this technology. The company is planning to commence two pilot projects this fall.
“This exclusive arrangement is a major accomplishment for Sunridge and we are extremely excited with the potential of this extraction technology in the recovery of heavy oil at shallow depths” comments Dwayne Tyrkalo, President and CEO of Sunridge, “We are confident this technology will allow us to extract the extensive reserves of shallow depth targeted oil at costs comparable to or less than steam injection used at deeper depths”.
The propriety proven technology known as 6-Phase Oil Heating (6POH), was first commercialised in 1997 by CES in the US for the remedial cleanup of hydrocarbons. By generating heat through electrodes installed in the
ground and adding current, the in-situ steam produced generates a steam-drive pushing hydrocarbons up through the collection wells. So far, the technology has been used at over 50 different sites around the world and achieved recovery rates of in excess of 70%.
In the oil sands application of 6POH, the objective is to heat the heavy oil (bitumen) formation, which is immobile and stays locked in the formation due to high viscosity. The formations around the Fort Mc Murray area have an average thickness of 15-30+ m of bitumen oil pay with estimated 30% porosity. By heating the reservoir to an estimated 100oC the viscosity of heavy oil drops significantly and becomes light oil, allowing for low cost conventional pumping extraction. No water is required for steam generation resulting in very low emissions with less impact to the environment.
6POH technology allows Sunridge to get involved in large heavy oil projects in the second largest oil deposit in the world.
