Case Study: Athabasca Oil Corporation optimizes bitumen recovery with Computer Modelling Group and IBM

Optimizing bitumen recovery by automating reservoir simulations

Athabasca Oil Corporation, an Alberta-based oil and gas producer, needed a way to determine the best configuration of Thermal Assisted Gravity Drainage wells to recover bitumen from a large Leduc carbonate reservoir. The company worked with Computer Modelling Group and IBM technology, using CMG STARS and CMOST on IBM BladeCenter and System x servers to automate and speed up reservoir simulations.

Computer Modelling Group’s CMOST integrated with STARS to generate, run, and analyze large numbers of simulation cases, helping Athabasca Oil Corporation optimize well placement and operating parameters while accounting for subsurface uncertainty and economics. The result was a major boost in productivity: AOC ran more than 250,000 simulations, reduced the runs needed for one well-configuration study from over 20,000 to about 2,000, and gained greater confidence in maximizing net present value and reducing project risk.

Athabasca Oil Corporation

Bruce Roberts

Chief Reservoir Engineer