Research and technology

Our goal as an industry is to supply reliable and affordable oil and gas energy in a way that benefits our customers. At the same time, we have a duty to do so in a safe and environmentally responsible way. Researching new and innovative ways to develop hydrocarbons more efficiently and with minimal environmental impact is essential.

Our approach
We look to technology to overcome challenges inherent in the energy industry. We are one of a small number of oil and gas companies in Canada with dedicated research facilities. Scientists at our Calgary and Sarnia facilities conduct their own research as well as partner with academic experts and scientists at ExxonMobil.

Our efforts are focused on:

• developing new technologies for heavy oil that enhance environmental performance
• piloting new and enhanced resource recovery technologies at our field sites
• supporting fundamental oil sands research at universities and in our own laboratories
• optimizing technology to minimize fugitive emissions
• developing enhanced soil remediation technologies
• funding projects at universities

We balance our investments between "technology extensions," which can be rapidly deployed to our existing operations, and breakthrough research that could have a significant and lasting impact on the company and society.

In 2010, our company invested nearly $109 million in research and technology – most of it focused on oil sands innovation. In addition, through its relationship with ExxonMobil, Imperial had access to more than $1 billion of industry-leading research worldwide.

Performance at a glance

What we are doing

Exploring new recovery technologies
Imperial's Calgary research centre is considered one of the leading oil sands research facilities in the world. Imperial and ExxonMobil have held more than 160 Upstream patents since 1961, including the first patents on cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) and steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), two key processes used across the industry in bitumen recovery. In addition, the company has filed applications for another 40 patents in Canada. Today our many inventions are continually refined at the centre to improve productivity and environmental performance.

Here are some highlights from our 2010 research activities:

• cyclic solvent process (CSP): We are developing a heavy oil recovery process, known as CSP, that uses only solvent to reduce the viscosity of bitumen deposits and facilitate economic recovery. By eliminating the need for the use of steam to mobilize bitumen deposits, the process significantly improves energy efficiency and reduces GHG emission intensity. In 2010, we expanded the project to a dedicated solvent injection well and submitted a regulatory application for a large-scale pilot project at Cold Lake, consisting of three horizontal and six observation wells. The pilot project was approved by regulators in May 2011 and is scheduled to begin operating in 2013.
• solvent-assisted SAGD: We continue to operate a pilot project at Cold Lake that adds light hydrocarbon solvent to SAGD wells. By adding diluent to steam, we can produce more bitumen with the same amount of steam, resulting in lower energy input and GHG emission intensity. This technology has the potential to enhance recovery for certain reservoirs in the Cold Lake and Athabasca areas. In 2010, the project began solvent injection, and we are now using a variety of techniques to evaluate productivity improvements. The project has received recognition from the Alberta government through the Innovative Energy Technologies Program.
• continuous infill steamflood (CISF): We are expanding the application of a continuous steam-flooding technology to improve resource recovery in mature portions of the oil field at Cold Lake. Called CISF, the technology involves the drilling of additional steam injector wells between existing CSS wells to access unrecovered bitumen. The technology will allow us to increase recovery from the reservoir and accomplish this at lower pressure, helping to extend the life of our well pad facilities. While variations of this technology have been used in many other places in the world, Cold Lake is the first application of this technology to oil with a very high viscosity. In 2010, we received regulatory approval for commercial expansion of this technology at Cold Lake, and we are in the process of applying this technology to 46 horizontal infill wells and about 500 production wells.
• LASER: After more than a decade of research and pilot testing, we are deploying a new technology called LASER (liquid addition to steam to enhance recovery) that complements our CSS processes. LASER, an enhancement of the CSS process, co-injects low concentrations of diluent (light hydrocarbon solvent) with steam. The diluent helps to further reduce the viscosity of the bitumen and aids its ability to flow. The condensed water, diluent and heated oil are produced back from the same well after a soak phase. This process results in improved oil recovery and can reduce GHG emission intensity by more than 25 percent. In 2010, we deployed LASER in its first commercial application at about 240 wells at the Cold Lake operation.

Supporting oil sands research
In addition to the research that is carried out at our own Calgary research laboratory, we sponsor a wide range of energy research programs at Canadian universities and other institutions.

Imperial is the founding partner sponsor of the Centre for Oil Sands Innovation (COSI) at the University of Alberta. The aim of this unique Canadian centre of excellence is to conduct breakthrough research that reduces the use of water and energy and decreases the footprint of oil sands development. Since 2005, we have contributed $10 million and more than $1 million of in-kind support to COSI, and, in 2010, we renewed our commitment by pledging another $10 million over five years.

The COSI research portfolio continues to grow and now engages researchers from six Canadian universities. Current projects involve nearly 100 research personnel from the University of Alberta, University of British Columbia, University of Victoria, University of Ottawa, University of Toronto, Queen’s University as well as the National Research Council. In the constant pursuit of excellence in research at COSI, contacts have been established with selected universities in the United States, Germany and Australia.

We also continue to be one of several oil sands operators funding leading-edge research conducted by the Canadian Oil Sands Network for Research and Development (CONRAD). Since 2006, we have contributed $1.8 million to support research conducted under CONRAD, including programs aimed at reclamation of oil sands mining sites.

Pursuing new ways to reduce or eliminate tailings
Imperial scientists at the Calgary research centre are exploring an emerging process – non-aqueous extraction – which relies on incorporating a naturally occurring light hydrocarbon liquid from natural gas production into the bitumen recovery process and has the potential to create dry tailings and eliminate the need for tailings ponds. Imperial is putting significant efforts in pilot planning to advance this technology.

As with any breakthrough technology, it will take time to mature from research to commercial application, and we cannot rely on this as the only potential technology to improve performance.

In addition to our own research, we have been working with other companies, research agencies and universities to share information on emerging technologies to manage tailings. In late 2010, Canada's oil sands developers announced a new cooperation agreement to streamline work to improve the management of tailings. The seven companies, including Imperial, have agreed to pool their findings and eliminate proprietary intellectual property on past efforts. Collaborators will also make past research available to peers, government, academia and others with an interest in improving tailings management