Elastic property changes in a bitumen reservoir during steam injection

Abstract

The Hangingstone steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) operation of Japan Canada Oil Sands Limited (JACOS) is approximately 50 km south-southwest of Fort McMurray in northern Alberta, Canada. JACOS started the operation in 1997 and has produced bitumen since 1999. The oil-sands reservoirs in Hangingstone occur in the Lower Cretaceous McMurray Formation and are about 300 m in depth. The sedimentary environments are fluvial to upper estuarine channel fill, and the oil-sands reservoirs correspond to vertically stacked incised valley fill with very complex vertical and horizontal distribution.