Overview of Reservoir Deposits in the Pike and Jackfish Oil Sands Project Areas, Southern Athabasca Oil Sands, Canada

Abstract

The Lower Cretaceous McMurray Formation in western Canada has over 1.8 trillion barrels of bitumen resource in place. Due to the bitumen in its natural state having a very low API (6-12°) and corresponding high viscosity, traditional primary (pump jacks) and secondary (water flood) recovery techniques cannot be used. Instead, economic extraction of the bitumen occurs via surface mining and subsurface steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD). Using the Pike and Jackfish oil sands project areas as a case study, it will be shown that successful SAGD operations requires a thorough understanding of the depositional fabric and stratigraphic architecture of the reservoir. Within the study area, reservoir intervals in the form of cross-bedded sandstones and sandy inclined heterolithic strata (IHS) are present within both the middle and upper McMurray. Overlying the middle McMurray are upper McMurray parasequence cycles reflective of brackish bays and deltaic embayment deposits. In many areas, however, these parasequences are absent and instead substituted by fluvial channels with brackish water overprint. The facies within these fluvial channels are very similar in character to the those seen within the middle McMurray. To help progress our understanding of baffles and barriers to flow within these aforementioned reservoir facies, dip meter and seismic data are presented as data that can be used. From this, a better understanding of the complex interplay of facies and stratigraphic relationships can be made. More importantly, clearer insights into SAGD performance (pre- and post-steam) can also be achieved. Using the McMurray Formation as an underpinning, the wider implications of understanding fluvial sedimentation will be addressed by using reservoirs from the Middle East as examples. For example, many siliciclastic reservoirs in locations such as Kuwait (Wara Formation) and Iraq (Zubair Formation) are also influenced to a large degree by fluvial sedimentation. Not unlike SAGD, any successful secondary recovery techniques applied within these reservoirs will also require a detailed characterization of the channel stacking patterns and channel orientations prior to implementation.