Husky's Pikes Peak Steam Pilot was initiated in 1981 to evaluate cyclic steam recovery in a Lloydminster area Waseca channel sand reservoir, and has since been expanded to include a total of fifty-four thermal wells. Development has been based on three hectare seven-spot patterns to facilitate eventual conversion to steam drive, and directional drilling has been in use the last two years.
The overall performance of the pilot has been very good, although data are limited as only three fully contained wells have completed two or more cycles.
Studies are underway at the pilot to evaluate the following: use of a post-cyclic steam drive process, production from wells with bottom water, production following the establishment of interwell communication, and methods of improving steam. A data management system is being developed, and both semi empirical and numerical modeling studies are underway.
Husky's Pikes Peak Steam Pilot is located in Township 50, Range 23 and 24 West of the 3rd Meridian approximately 40 kilometers east of the town of Lloydminster (Figure 1). The discovery well, Husky A9-L-50-24, was drilled in 1970 and completed in the General Petroleum Sand. Attempts at primary production from the Waseca formation in 1977 to 1980 were not successful, likely due to the high viscosity of the crude and to high sand cuts.
An application seeking approval to initiate a steam pilot was submitted to and accepted by The Saskatchewan Energy and Mines in 1981, and by the end of L981 seven producers and two observation wells were drilled. Additional wells have been drilled each year, and the pilot presently has 54 thermal wells. Directional drilling was initiated in 1983 to reduce the effects on surface land, and there are now 30 directional thermal wells.
The Pikes Peak Waseca reservoir sand is well sorted and is primarily quartz. The pilot is located in one of the few areas in a north=south aligned channel which has thick oil bearing sands that are not underlain by bottom water. Net pay in the developed pilot area ranges from 7 m to 28 m, and averages 15 m.
Pilot wells are normally completed openhole with wire-wrapped screens, but based through completions are used if bottom water is indicated on the logs or if the potentially gassy underlying Sparky zone is penetrated.
The overall pilot performance has been very good, with a cumulative pilot SOR of 1.5 and an average calendar day oil rate of 15.5 m3/d/producer. Data for totally confined wells are limited, however. Interwe11 communication became common in mid-1983, and the performance of neighboring wells is now also considered when determining if a well should be re-steamed. A continuous injection test is underway in one pattern to help evaluate use of steam drive when cyclic stimulation is no longer economic. Studies are also underway to improve oil recovery from wells with bottom water.
The Pikes Peak Steam Pilot is located on an exist-west structural high within a north-south trending channel complex.
