Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin
The Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) underlies 1.4 million square kilometres (540,000 sq mi) of Western Canada including southwestern Manitoba, southern Saskatchewan, Alberta, northeastern British Columbia and the southwest corner of the Northwest Territories. This vast sedimentary basin consists of a massive wedge of sedimentary rock extending from the Rocky Mountains in the west to the Canadian Shield in the east. This wedge is about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) thick under the Rocky Mountains, but thins to zero at its eastern margins. The WCSB contains one of the world's largest reserves of petroleum and natural gas and supplies much of the North American market, producing more than 450 million cubic metres (16 billion cubic feet) per day of gas in 2000. It also has huge reserves of coal. Of the provinces and territories within the WCSB, Alberta has most of the oil and gas reserves and almost all of the oil sands.
Conventional oil
The WCSB is considered a mature area for exploration of
For light oil, the
For conventional heavy oil, the industry is exploring new zones in undrilled portions of the basin to find remaining undiscovered pools, or to apply EOR schemes such as water floods, thermal projects, and miscible floods such as the Vapour Extraction Process (VAPEX) technology. Only 15 percent of heavy oil is currently being recovered, leaving a large volume for future recovery.
Improved seismic and drilling technology, higher recoveries from existing pools through infill drilling, and efficient, cost-effective exploration and development of smaller pools are maintaining levels of conventional oil production in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. As the basin matures, the resource triangle with few large pools at the top, and many small pools at the base is being economically pursued deeper into the smaller pool segment as a result of these efficiencies.
Oil sands
According to the
The
As a result of the
Natural gas
Canada is the third largest producer and second largest exporter of gas in the world, with the vast majority of it coming from the WCSB. The WCSB is estimated to have 143 trillion cubic feet (4,000 km3) of marketable gas remaining (discovered and undiscovered), which represents about two thirds of Canadian gas reserves. Over half of the gas produced is exported to the United States.
However, Canadian gas reserves represent less than one percent of world reserves and are rapidly becoming exhausted according to a 2010 paper. [6] The majority of the large gas pools have been discovered and a significant portion of the discovered reserves has been produced. Production from the basin peaked in 2001 at around 16 billion cubic feet (450,000,000 m3) per day and was predicted in 2003, by the National Energy Board to be likely to decline from that level.[7] The overall decline rate increased from 13 percent per year in 1992 to 23 percent in 2002, which means 3.8 billion cubic feet per day (110,000,000 m3/d) of production must be replaced each year just to keep production constant. With the basin being largely explored and operators finding less gas with each new well, this seems improbable. New gas reserves in the WCSB will likely come from unconventional sources such as coalbed methane (CBM).[8]
The number of coalbed methane wells in Alberta more than doubled in 2005, to 7764 by the end of that year, producing nearly 0.5 billion cubic feet (14,000,000 m3) of gas per day. More than 95 percent of the CBM wells were completed in the Upper Cretaceous Horseshoe Canyon and Belly River formations, at typical depths of 300 feet (91 m) to 2,400 feet (730 m). About 4 percent of the CBM wells are completed in the Lower Cretaceous Mannville formation, at depths of 2,300 feet (700 m) to 4,300 feet (1,300 m).[9]
Author David J. Hughes in his 2004 book entitled North America's Natural Gas Crisis, predicted that the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin would likely continue to be the main gas supply area in Canada for many years, however, declining production and the likelihood that much of the gas will be diverted to fuel new oil sands plants mean that the probability of there being sufficient surplus gas to meet projected U.S. demand is low, and the US will have to look elsewhere for future gas supplies.[10]
Coal
The WCSB contains about 90 percent of Canada's usable coal resources.
See also
- Oil well
- OPEC
- List of oil-producing states
- History of the petroleum industry in Canada
References
- ^ NEB (2005). "Short-term Outlook for Canadian Crude Oil to 2006". National Energy Board. Archived from the original on 2006-07-11. Retrieved 2006-09-25.
- ^ "Alberta's Reserves 2006 and Supply/Demand Outlook 2007 to 2016". Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board. 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
- ^ a b "Survey of Energy Resources 2007: Natural Bitument - Resource Quantities and Geographical Distribution". World Energy Council. 2007.
- ^ NEB (2006). "Canada's Oil Sands - Opportunities and Challenges to 2015: An Update". National Energy Board. Archived from the original on 2006-07-11. Retrieved 2006-09-25.
- ^ Statistics Canada (2006). "The Alberta economic juggernaut" (PDF). Statistics Canada. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 26, 2009. Retrieved 2006-09-25.
- ^ Paul Ziff (2010). "Canadian Conventional Gas at a Crossroads" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-03-14.
- ^ NEB (2003). "Short-term Natural Gas Deliverability from the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin 2003-2005" (PDF). National Energy Board. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-05-22. Retrieved 2006-09-20.
- ^ Russum, D.; Botterill, A. (2006). "Comparing Opportunities in a Mature Basin: Examples from the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin" (PDF). Search and Discovery. Retrieved 2006-09-20.
- ^ Susan R. Eaton, "Coalbed gas frontier being tapped," AAPG Explorer, Nov. 2006, p.20-24.
- ^
Hughes, David J. (2004-06-21). "North America's Natural Gas Crisis: The Big Picture Overview and the Roll of Unconventional Gas" (PDF). Canadian Gas Potential Committee. Retrieved 2006-10-06.
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Cameron, A. R.; Smith, G. G. (1991). "Coals of Canada : distribution and compositional characteristics". International Journal of Coal Geology. 19 (1–4). Elsevier, Amsterdam: 9–20. ISSN 0166-5162. Retrieved 2006-10-03.
- ^ Alberta Department of Energy (2005). "About Coal". Archived from the original on 2006-06-24. Retrieved 2006-10-03.
Further reading
- Mossop, G.D.; Shetsen, I (1994). Geological Atlas of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists and Alberta Research Council. ISBN 978-0-920230-53-4. Retrieved 2006-09-20. This book is out of print but available online through the link above.
External links
- Alberta Department of Energy (ADOE)
- Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB)
- Alberta Geological Survey (AGS)
- Alberta Research Council (ARC)
- Canadian Gas Potential Committee (CGPC)
- Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists (CSPG)
- Geological Survey of Canada (GSC)
- National Energy Board of Canada (NEB)
- Saskatchewan Industry and Resources (SIR)