Grant: Engage Grants Program

Nexen Energy ULC, a Canadian company located in Calgary, Alberta, is a complete solution provider for upstream oil and gas energy resources. The focus of this research is to investigate, analyze, and design control strategies for enhanced oil sands recovery. Nexen has patents pending on this process. The Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) located at the University of Regina's main campus hosts an experimental setup as a test bench for the design of experiments, data analysis, and implementation of heating process control strategies to optimize the oil production. The heating process is carried out using heating elements embedded into the oil wells in formation as an alternative to the methods such as Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD), and Vapor Extraction (VAPEX). This will lead to a higher-rate oil production with lower power expenditure with significant capital cost savings compared to current in-situ extraction methods. The proposed research focuses on the design of the data-driven adaptive control strategies on the heating process used in heating elements to optimize the oil production without over burdening the elements leading to an unwanted melt down. This research can lead to a commercial-rate oil production from the oil sands.