One producer tamed a difficult level control task, improving test separator performance.

Anyone who has ever worked in the Canadian Athabasca oil sands production fields knows that the term “tar sands” is far more accurate. While oil is ultimately produced, it begins as bitumen, the heavy crude that is almost solid. Extracting it from wells demands steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) techniques where each well is a combination of two drilled holes (Figure 1). One well injects steam to heat and soften the bitumen, separating it from the sand, and the other producer well pumps it out. What results is a mix of bitumen, natural gas, solids, and water. While this process is energy-intensive and expensive, numerous companies are using it and producing a total of about 1.3 million barrels per day across the region. Read More