Water Quality Tesing

Percentage of water allocated to the Albera oil and gas industry actually used in 2005:

Approximately 33 per cent

WATER

THE CHALLENGE
Water is an integral part of oil and gas production around the world, and as Canada's oil and gas industry grows, so does the demand on Canadian water resources.
Canada's oil and gas industry is also maturing, with more production coming from older oil fields and unconventional sources such as oil sands. These petroleum resources often require water to facilitate production, and today water is primarily used for the recovery of bitumen from oil sands (mining and in situ) and for enhanced recovery from mature conventional oil fields.
Other users are also increasing their use of water-for example, growing populations mean additional drinking water demands, and projected growth in griculture is accompanied by increased irrigation needs. At the same time, government agencies are predicting reduced water flow in some river basins due to changes in snow and rainfall patterns.

The Challenge

Water is an integral part of oil and gas production around the world, and as Canada's oil and gas industry grows, so does the demand on Canadian water resources.

Canada's oil and gas industry is also maturing, with more production coming from older oil fields and unconventional sources such as oil sands. These petroleum resources often require water to facilitate production, and today water is primarily used for the recovery of bitumen from oil sands (mining and in situ) and for enhanced recovery from mature conventional oil fields. In Alberta, the oil and gas industry's allocation of total licensed water in the province is 7.2 per cent, and industry typically uses approximately one third of that allocation.

The challenge facing the oil and gas industry is to reduce fresh water use while continuing to develop oil and gas reserves.

COMMITTED TO OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE

The upstream oil and gas industry is committed to responsible water use, and we have made significant progress in reducing our use of fresh water. The industry is a leader in researching recycling techniques and reusing water to meet its requirements. For example, oil sands projects in Northern Alberta continually recycle approximately 90 per cent of water, which includes recycling water from tailings ponds.

Industry's efforts to reduce fresh water usage have also focused on saline, produced water and wastewater as alternatives. In fact, saline groundwater use in Alberta for enhanced oil recovery and in situ projects almost doubled from 2001 to 2005. We are also progressing on technological developments in several areas including CO2 injection instead of waterflood to enhance oil recovery.

Recently, the efforts of industry to reduce water consumption has prompted several companies to review their water allocations to determine if opportunities exist for returning their allocation to the Crown.

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: TOE-TO-HEEL AIR INJECTION

THAITM is an emerging in situ extraction technology that relies primarily on combustion rather than steam to liquefy bitumen underground, allowing it to be pumped to the surface.

THAI's combustion process combines a vertical air injection well with a horizontal production well. First a small amount of steam is injected through the vertical well to heat the bitumen and create voids or spaces in the reservoir. Next air is injected through the vertical well, which when combined with the heat and pressure within the reservoir, ignites the bitumen.

During the process a combustion front is created where part of the oil in the reservoir is burned, generating heat that reduces the viscosity of the oil, allowing it to flow by gravity to the horizontal production well. The combustion front sweeps the oil from the toe to the heel of the horizontal producing well, recovering an estimated 80 per cent of the original oil-in-place while partially upgrading the crude oil in situ.

THAI technology is being successfully demonstrated in a pilot project, and planning is underway for commercial development.

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CONSTRUCTIVE CONTRIBUTIONS TO POLICY AND REGULATION DEVELOPMENT

Provincial governments closely regulate the amount of water that industries can use, including the oil and gas industry.

Water use policy has been in place in Alberta since 1931 and the Water Act came into effect in 1999. A major overhaul of groundwater legislation in 1990 addressed concerns about increasing demand for groundwater. Under this policy, Alberta Environment (AENV) will only issue a licence to divert groundwater for enhanced oil recovery if it is satisfied such a diversion will not significantly affect other nearby groundwater users or the groundwater resource. If a license is issued, the conditions generally require ongoing monitoring and reporting of the quantity of groundwater diverted. The data collected helps to ensure ongoing water diversions are sustainable.

Similar requirements apply for diversions of surface water, and AENV must be satisfied that the amount being diverted each year is sustainable.

CAPP and its members supports a number of initiatives to help manage water, including:

  • The Water for Life Strategy-an overarching policy to develop new water management approaches;
  • The Alberta Water Council-a consensus based partnership that advises AENV on policy changes;
  • Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada (PTAC) Water Innovation Planning Committee-PTAC facilitates collaborative research and technology development, demonstration and deployment of the petroleum industry;
  • The Saskatchewan Petroleum Industry/Government Environment Committee (SPIGEC) was formed in 1992. SPIGEC's environmental protection guidelines provide industry with the tools necessary to enhance environmental performance in Saskatchewan, including the area of water use.
  • The industry has been an active participant in water management programs initiated by the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority, including Conserving our Water: A Water Conservation Plan for Saskatchewan.
Stewardship

CHEVRON CANADA SERPENT DEEP WATER SURVEY

Deep Water Survey

Run Silent Run Deep

In a remote corner of the frigid North Atlantic, 400 km northeast of St. John's, Nfld., a region aptly called the Orphan Basin, an octopus slinks cautiously along the ocean floor more than a mile below the surface.

A camera flash shatters the inky blackness, capturing the octopus's digital image before it jets off into the black void-its moment of fame quickly gone.

The deepwater paparazzi is actually part of a unique underwater research partnership between Chevron Canada and scientists from Newfoundland's Memorial University and Southampton University in the U.K.

In 2006, Chevron's Orphan Basin exploratory offshore drilling operation became Canada's first participation in an international undersea exploration program known as the Scientific and Environmental ROV Partnership using Existing Industrial Technology (SERPENT). SERPENT brings oil and gas operators, scientists and academic researchers together to further our knowledge of deepwater ecosystems.

Memorial University professor Dr. Paul Snelgrove says, "The samples from Orphan Basin represent some of the first biological data ever collected from this region." He adds that it wouldn't have happened without Chevron's support.

It's our first glimpse into one of the world's hitherto unrecorded deepwater marine ecosystems.

The results offer a bonanza of new visual information about the basin's ecosystem, including the discovery of new and unexpected marine life caught gliding smoothly and silently above the ocean floor.