Strategic optimization of the oil sands development with SAGD: Drainage area arrangement and development planning

• Strategic planning of oil sands development through SAGD process.
• Two-stage optimization framework to plan the development of drainage areas.
• Maximization of the recoverable bitumen through drainage area layout optimization.
• Maximization of the Net Present Value through Mixed Integer Linear Optimization.

The majority of the oil sand deposits in Alberta Canada can only be extracted using in situ methods, mainly the Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD). SAGD project consists of Central Processing Facility (CPF) and Surface Pad (SP) situated surface and Drainage Area (DA) consisting of multiple injector and producer well pairs situated subsurface. DA placement is crucial in ensuring that maximum amount of bitumen is extracted. In this work, an optimization framework is developed to plan the development of DAs. The first step aims to obtain a compact DAs arrangement by maximizing the amount of extractable bitumen. In the second step, a Mixed Integer Linear Optimization (MILP) model is developed to arrange the multiperiod development plan of the DAs. The proposed method is applied to a case study with multiple DAs for arrangement and the results demonstrate that the method can effectively generate a good DA layout and an economically optimal development plan that maximizes the Net Present Value (NPV).