Reserves & Resources

Oil Sands In Situ

When thermal development of the Canadian oil sands began in earnest two decades ago, reservoir experts from GLJ were on hand conducting the very first evaluations. Since then, GLJ’s in situ team has distinguished itself as an insightful and sought-after authority in the field, applying a collaborative and integrated approach to deliver the highest quality solutions to meet our varied clients’ needs. With formal experience in Athabasca, Cold Lake, Peace River and Saskatchewan on hundreds of assets and the full spectrum of development strategies, GLJ has an unmatched understanding of the in situ world.

In addition to formal evaluations, audits and reviews, GLJ recurrently monitors the performance of all active oil sands projects and, by virtue of our extensive client base, frequently evaluates emerging plays and technologies.  In addition to the customary in situ recovery techniques – SAGD, CSS and steam flood – GLJ has current leading-edge experience with technology modifications such as infill drilling, solvent co-injection, non-condensable gas injection, conformance control measures and accelerated start up. GLJ’s knowledge base uniquely includes exposure to emerging technologies including thermally assisted gravity drainage, in situ upgrading, combustion and toe-to-heel air injection, enhanced solvent extraction including electromagnetic heating and N-SOLV. For over a decade, GLJ has also studied distinctive in situ reservoirs such as the carbonates and marginal marine settings, rounding out our innovative in situ methodology to encompass any currently pursued reservoir challenge.

Oil Sands Mining

Oil sands are a mixture of bitumen, clay, sand and water that can be found all over the world. The viscous nature of the bitumen at reservoir conditions generally prevents it from being produced from a conventional wellbore. A small portion of the oil sands deposit in the Athabasca region of Alberta, Canada, is found at depths amenable to open pit mining and hot water bitumen extraction.

GLJ has been involved in the evaluation of surface mineable oil sands projects since the 1980’s and currently evaluates the following surface mineable oil sands projects in Alberta on an annual basis for corporate reporting:

• Athabasca Oil Sands Project
• Fort Hills
• Joslyn
• Syncrude
• Audet
• Horizon
• Suncor Mine
• Voyageur South

These mines represent nearly all of Alberta’s surface mineable oil sands projects. As a result, GLJ is uniquely qualified to provide reasonable evaluations that can consider performance from analogous projects. GLJ’s experience is also applicable to mineable oil sands projects outside of Alberta, where technologies are being tested and developed to extract bitumen from oil-wet oil sands, as well as mineable oil shale projects where bituminous material is extracted from oil shale.

Tight Oil & Gas

Tight oil and gas refers to low permeability reservoirs that are produced with horizontal wells and massive multi-stage hydraulic fracturing. GLJ has analyzed these resource plays using all major commercial unconventional production analysis software, in addition to proprietary computer algorithms capable of processing tens of thousands of wells in order to quantify technical parameters related to dense well development. This analysis extends into geostatistical calculation of normalized well performance. This combination of commercial software and in-house development gives GLJ unique capabilities unmatched by our competition.

GLJ has been involved in the evaluation of low permeability reservoirs since 2002 and has provided evaluations of interests in various capacities, including total petroleum initially-in-place, reserves, contingent resources and prospective resources for the following major plays:

• Bakken in North Dakota and Saskatchewan
• Montney in Alberta and British Columbia
• Slave Point in Alberta
• Jonah and Pinedale in Wyoming
• Cardium in Alberta
• Spirit River in Alberta
• Viking in Alberta and Saskatchewan

These evaluations have been used for corporate reporting and support for acquisitions, divestitures and joint-venture agreements.

Shale Plays

Shale gas or oil is produced from reservoirs where gas or oil is trapped in pore space fractures and by adsorption on kerogen and, possibly, on clay particles, and is released when a pressure differential develops.

GLJ has been involved in the evaluation of shale assets since 2007 when shale gas development commenced in the Horn River Basin. GLJ has since provided evaluations of interests in various capacities, including assessment of total petroleum initially-in-place, reserves, contingent resources and prospective resources for the following plays:

• Horn River Basin in British Columbia
• Cordova Embayment in British Columbia
• Duvernay shale in Alberta
• La Luna and Rosa Blanca shales in the Middle Magdalena Basin of Colombia
• Vaca Muerta and Lower Agrio shales in Argentina

These evaluations have been used in corporate reporting, as well as in support of acquisitions and joint-venture agreements. GLJ also maintains up-to-date databases of publically available industry results to ensure our evaluations remain current.

Conventional Oil & Gas

Conventional reservoirs contain petroleum resources that were generated elsewhere, migrated as a result of hydrodynamic forces and trapped in localized structural, depositional or erosional geological features. Oil or gas will flow towards a wellbore under pressure drawdown due to favorable viscosity and permeability. Reservoir stimulation may be required to initiate flow or to enhance production, but is often not necessary.

Most oil and gas produced worldwide to date originated from conventional reservoirs. Production mechanisms are well understood and include reservoir fluid expansion, natural water drive and enhanced recovery schemes such as water or gas injection. Reserves or resources for conventional reservoirs are generally determined using volumetric methods in their early life with recovery factors estimated using reliable technology. As producing assets mature, decline analysis and material balance methods may be used to substantiate the evaluation.

GLJ has been evaluating reserves and resources for conventional reservoirs throughout Canada and worldwide for over 40 years. Our experts have considerable experience analyzing secondary and tertiary enhanced oil recovery schemes, heavy oil reservoirs, gas cycling schemes, gas-condensate reservoirs, naturally fractured reservoirs and gas storage operations.

Coal Bed Methane

Coal Bed Methane (CBM) is a form of natural gas which is absorbed into the internal structure of the coal matrix. Production occurs when a pressure differential develops within the reservoir, resulting in gas desorption and flow to surface. The majority of CBM development in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) targets the Horseshoe Canyon and Belly River Formations in Alberta.

GLJ has been involved in CBM evaluations since 2001 and continues to evaluate WCSB CBM properties for corporate reporting, bank financing, and asset transactions. GLJ has an extensive database of CBM wellbore parameters and gas contents spanning this play as a result of its CBM evaluation experience.

GLJ is also familiar with Mannville CBM in Alberta, including both “dry” and “wet” Mannville CBM; “dry” and “wet” referring to the volume of water produced rather than the heat content of the produced gas. GLJ’s CBM experience also extends to Elk Valley coals in British Columbia.