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Energy professionals from Alberta and around the world are in Calgary this week to attend the Global Petroleum Show (GPS) and learn about the new technologies and research that are creating opportunities and solving challenges for the oil and gas industry.
There’s no better place to go to get your fill on the latest advancements than the Saskatchewan Research Council’s (SRC) Technology and Innovation Theatre. It’s a unique opportunity to hear from researchers and engineers with decades of experience applying what they’ve learned in the lab to the field. They’ll be sharing their experience and knowledge on topics ranging from technology advancements in reservoir characterization to tackling methane reduction regulations.
SRC’s Energy Division has been instrumental in transforming some of the world’s most challenging oil and gas opportunities into some of its most valuable reserves. It’s now a full generation into its mission to support and sustain its clients with world-class technologies, services and solutions.
Many of the engineers and scientists you’ll meet and hear from have been with the organization for more than ten years (and some twenty years!). And they all have one thing in common—a drive to make oil and gas production more sustainable in the long term.
“We’ve had companies come to us and share a challenge they’re having that doesn’t really have an existing solution. Our expertise lies in being able to figure out how to design and build what they need and then make it work efficiently in the field,” says Kelly Knorr, Operations Manager for SRC’s Energy Division. “It sets us apart from other service providers. We’re that one-stop-shop you can come to with any challenge, which industry really values.”
For SRC, the theatre is an opportunity for them to hear from industry about the challenges they’re facing in the field.
Knorr says, “Not everyone has the opportunity to tour our labs and see how we work, so with this theatre, we’re essentially bringing our lab to GPS attendees. This way we can discuss our work with people and get more input and feedback that can guide future projects.”
Muhammad Imran manages SRC’s Enhanced Oil Recovery Field Development team and will present at SRC’s theatre on some of the cutting-edge research they’re doing in the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) of heavy oil. He has led many projects, including innovative proofs of concept, development and optimization of medium and heavy oil EOR processes, lab-scale equipment design, physical modelling and numerical modelling including wormhole modelling.
“Primary heavy oil production extracts only about ten to fifteen per cent of the original oil in place—that’s a lot of oil left in the ground, tens of billions of barrels, in fact,” says Imran. “We’re working on ways to get more oil out of the ground, which is important for sustaining regions like Lloydminster where heavy oil production has declined for the last two decades.”
Erin Powell leads a team of engineers and scientists in SRC’s Process Development Group that provide applied research and development, scale-up, demonstration and validation of value-added processing technologies for commercial application. “The need to address large methane emissions from the oil and gas sector is intensifying,” she says. At SRC’s theatre, she’ll be discussing how SRC’s Centre for the Demonstration of Emissions Reductions (CeDER) is helping industry and technology developers test and validate emissions reduction technologies that can be adopted in the field.
Peng (Mars) Luo, an R&D Technical Advisor in SRC’s Energy Division, will talk about a new service they’re offering using an industrial CT scanner to give clients a highly detailed picture of what their reservoir looks like without altering fluids or rocks. “At spatial resolution of 30 microns for common 1.5-inch-diameter core plugs, features such as small sedimentary structures, natural or induced fractures and bioturbations can be easily identified,” says Peng. This high-resolution digital core is a valuable input for subsequent studies in geoscience and petroleum engineering.
You can catch these presentations and more at SRC’s Technology and Innovation Theatre, at Booth 1212 in Halls ABC, during exhibition hours from June 11-13.
View the full schedule and read about the presenters and their presentations at https://src.nu/gpstheatre
Daily Presentation Schedule
10:30 a.m. Imaging the Very Small – CT Scanner
11:30 a.m. Bitumen Production – Thermal Additive Selection and Evaluation
12:30 p.m. CeDER: Addressing Impacts of Methane Regulations with Technological Solutions
1:30 p.m. Heavy Oil EOR – Thermal and Cold Methods
2:30 p.m. Partial Upgrading at SRC: 35 Years of Expertise
3:30 p.m. Well Placement and Fracturing Considerations – Viking
4:30 p.m. (June 11 and 12 only): Tight Oil EOR – Gaps and Challenges
View the full schedule and read about the presenters and their presentations at https://src.nu/gpstheatre
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