Strata Taps University of Alberta for Bitumen Recovery Technology

Strata Oil & Gas has entered into an option agreement with the University of Alberta for the exclusive Canadian license to the technology relating to "Steam-Over-Solvent Injection for Heavy-Oil Recovery in Fractured Reservoirs" described in part in the Canadian patent application "Hydrocarbon Recovery Process for Fractured Reservoirs" (serial no. 2,639,997).

The technology has been developed by researchers at the University of Alberta to extract bitumen from fractured carbonates.

"The carbonate-hosted bitumen resources of Alberta are the next frontier in the North American oil industry. Like oil sands two decades ago, carbonates represent an enormous and relatively untapped petroleum resource," said Manny Dhinsa, President of Strata.

Strata owns 100% of the world-class Cadotte Project in the Peace River region of Alberta, a projected 56,000 barrel-per-day operation with an expected production life of more than 20 years and a discounted net-present-value of $1.2 billion.

"According to lab research, this novel extraction technology results in much faster recovery and could yield up to 80%-95% compared to less than 20% with conventional techniques," says Mr. Dhinsa.

The technology is easily implemented using established equipment and extraction materials. It is also environmentally-friendly in that it allows for material-recycling and reduced thermal treatment.

"The reason we entered into this option agreement for the exclusive Canadian license is not just to test the technology on our Cadotte Project, but also because we believe the technology might be applied successfully to the entire carbonate-hosted bitumen triangle, which comprises 26% of Alberta's 1.7 trillion barrel bitumen resource."
 


Most Popular Articles