LOOKNorth
July 7, 2015
Executive Summary
LOOKNorth has been contracted by the Petroleum Technology Alliance of Canada (PTAC) under contract R-15-033-6055 to report on low cost Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR)
monitoring solutions for Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) Steam Chamber Monitoring. This report lays out the various options, techniques, and expected results of using InSAR as the
basis for a monitoring program during SAGD operations. The first section of this report presents a general overview of radar theory as well as an introduction to InSAR processing techniques.
These well established techniques used in combination with polar orbit spaceborne SAR systems can provide highly accurate deformation information in both vertical and East-West directions depending on the acquisition configuration. This section will also explain the basic concepts and configuration requirements of the two specific techniques that are relevant to SAGD operations monitoring.
The second section provides a detailed description of data costs and ordering specifications from the most current commercial satellite providers. In this section, factors such as cost, data
spatial resolution, spatial coverage and repeat cycle are explained. The third section presents the most common SAR processing techniques and points out both natural and spacecraft phenomena that tend to affect the accuracy and sometimes feasibility of InSAR monitoring. Finally, the last section discusses the reporting schedule and how derived InSAR results can potentially be integrated into geotechnical and geomechanical modeling.