Executive Summary

Jacobs Consultancy Canada Inc. (“Jacobs Consultancy”) was engaged by the Petroleum Technology Alliance of Canada (“PTAC”) to evaluate the technical-economic prospects of applying novel electricity-based technologies to:

  • Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD)-based bitumen production,
  • Bitumen upgrading, and
  • Other emerging technologies for in situ bitumen production from oil sands.

This initial phase of the Study (the “Study”) was, per plan, a screening level study. The goal of the screening process was to determine if any of the technologies selected for evaluation are worthy of a more in-depth technical-economic analysis to justify future investment. We agreed with PTAC that these screening-level comparisons were to be based on public domain data and in-house Jacobs Consultancy knowledge and information.

The Study was partitioned into three phases:

  • Phase 1 – Literature Search and Semi-Quantitative Screening
  • Phase 1B – Techno-Economic Analysis of Selected Technology Applications (Optional and not addressed in this report)
  • Phase 2 – Additional Technology Analysis Work (Optional and not addressed in this report)

We report here the outcomes of Phase 1, a screening review of potential technologies for novel applications of electric power to bitumen production and upgrading.

Phase One Report