Underground Test Facility

In situ processes were greatly advanced during the 1980s and 1990s. One source of this development was Dr. Roger Butler, a chemical engineer who helped further development of the Cyclical Steam Stimulation (CSS) bitumen recovery technique and who conceptualized Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD). The Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority (AOSTRA) was the other main source of in situ advancements. AOSTRA relied on Butler’s work and adaptations of Russian thermal mining techniques for its underground recovery advancements. Despite encountering a lack of interest by the petroleum industry, the government-sponsored agency took a big financial risk by funding a project called the Underground Test Facility (UTF) in early 1983. On government-leased land in northeastern Alberta, AOSTRA tested underground oil sands mining theory—at a depth beyond that which conventional surface mining methods were productive. The UTF’s advances transformed the petroleum industry’s thinking about underground bitumen recovery techniques.

The UTF opened in 1987, 60 km (37 mi.) north of Fort McMurray, with an innovative design. Sinking the shafts was done with a drill bit almost 4 m (13 ft.) in diameter, weighing 230 tonnes (253 tons). The two vertical shafts descended over 200 m deep (656 ft.), and neither one deviated from an exact vertical decline by more than 2.5 cm (1 in.). The No. 1 Shaft transported personnel to underground test chambers, housed the main hoist and equipment, and served

as a fresh air intake. Shaft No. 2 provided ventilation and housed an emergency hoist.

Then the tests began. The Phase A pilot involved three horizontal well pairs 70 m (230 ft.) in length, each with 40-50 m (131-164 ft.) of exposure to oil sands within the McMurray formation. Steam was injected, and the first experiment with SAGD wells began. After a year or so, it was obvious the system was working. Engineers decided it would be safer to create tunnels within the more stable limestone formation beneath the oil sands and then drill upwards into the reservoir. That was the beginning of a turnaround within the industry’s mindset. The possibility of extracting the 90% of Alberta’s bitumen that cannot be obtained through conventional surface oil sands mining was motivation enough for industry to get financially involved.

After ten companies contributed $16 million each to the project, Phase B went ahead over several years of experimentation. It involved another three horizontal well pairs, each pair 70 m (230 ft.) apart.

What was the result? AOSTRA originally predicted it would achieve about 30% to 45% bitumen recovery, but eventual results surpassed expectations at 65%. The tests conducted at the UTF ultimately transformed Canada’s petroleum industry. During the next decades in situ bitumen recovery emerged as a standard production technique and revolutionized both oil and gas production.