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Abstract
The majority of the Alberta oil sands are deeply
buried and, at formation temperature, the oil in the formation has a viscous
and tar-like consistency. Electromagnetic in-situ heating of the oil to make
it more fluid and mobile is suggested as an integral part of in-situ recovery
operations. Thermal and electrical properties of the Athabasca deposit of the
Alberta oil
sands have been measured for a wide range of conditions and some fundamental
constraints on electromagnetic in-situ heating of these deposits are
identified. Several in-situ electromagnetic heating schemes are suggested and
general criteria for physical scale modelling of heating configurations in
the laboratory are developed. Results of scale model experiments are
presented and viable electrode configurations are identified. An estimate is
made of the cost of electrical energy per barrel of oil recovered by
electromagnetic in-situ heating.
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