Chapter 9: The Devonian Petroleum System of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin — with Implications for Heavy-oil Reservoir Geology
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Published:January 01, 2010
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Hans G. Machel, 2010. "The Devonian Petroleum System of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin — with Implications for Heavy-oil Reservoir Geology", Heavy Oils: Reservoir Characterization and Production Monitoring, Satinder Chopra, Laurence R. Lines, Douglas R. Schmitt, Michael L. Batzle
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Introduction
The Western Canada Sedimentary Basin is one of the most prolific and best researched petroliferous basins in the world. Hydrocarbons were first discovered in commercial quantities in the Mississippian Turner Valley field southwest of Calgary in 1914, but this field was relatively small and economically insignificant in the long run. The first prolific oil field was discovered in a Devonian reef in 1947 near the town of Leduc close to Edmonton. This discovery started an economic boom in the province of Alberta that is ongoing to this day, on the basis of oil and gas revenue. Although agriculture, forestry,...
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Heavy Oils: Reservoir Characterization and Production Monitoring

Heavy oil is an important global resource with reserves comparable to those of conventional oil. As conventional resources get thinner, attention is being focused on heavy oil and bitumen, which hold the promise of becoming useful fuels. Already more than 1 million barrels of oil are being produced from the oil sands in Canada; heavy oil represents half of California’s crude oil production in the United States and is a major production in Mexico. With demand for global energy soaring, heavy oil will undoubtedly be an important resource to be exploited in a big way in the near future.
The SEG Development and Production Committee held its Heavy Oil Forum in Edmonton, Alberta, in July 2007. This was a joint research forum cosponsored by the Canadian Society of Exploration Geophysicists (CSEG) and SEG and hosted by the University of Alberta. Preceding the forum, a field trip took the participants to the vast Athabasca Oil Sands region where they observed the outcrops, open pit mining, and steam injection operations, followed by a tour of the steam-assisted gravity drainage projects. Topics of the well-attended forum included the definition of heavy oil; where is heavy oil found; how it is produced; heavy-oil reservoir characterization; fluid and rock properties; electrical, tilt, and gravity techniques; borehole, surface seismic measurements; and microseismicity.