Sedimentology, petrology, and geotechnical properties of Athabasca oil sands, Alberta

Conference · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1979 · Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol. Soc. Econ. Paleontol. Mineral., Annu. Meet. Abstr.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6342265

Dusseault, M B; Mossop, G D

The Athabasca oil sands deposit is not only one of the largest petroleum reservoirs in the world (870 billion bbl of oil in place), it is virtually the only supergiant oil accumulation that can be examined at outcrop. Sedimentologic and petrographic knowledge, gleaned both from the outcrop and from many subsurface cores, has direct and immediate implication for surface mining and in situ reservoir engineering. Most of the Athabasca reserves are contained in the lower Cretaceous McMurray formation, a 40- to 100-m-thick sequence of uncemented quartz sandstones and associated shales, saturated with heavy oil in virtually all zones where there is significant primary porosity and permeability. Through most of the deposit region, sedimentation was dominated by fluvial and related depositional systems, culminating in the localized development of very large channels in which were deposited distinctive solitary sets of epsilon cross strata up to 25 m thick.

• OSTI ID: 6342265
• Report Number(s): CONF-7904212-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol. Soc. Econ. Paleontol. Mineral., Annu. Meet. Abstr.; (United States)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
040201* -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Site Geology-- (-1989)
ALBERTA
ATHABASCA DEPOSIT
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CANADA
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
DEPOSITION
ENERGY SOURCES
ENGINEERING
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGY
MATERIALS
MINING
NORTH AMERICA
OIL SAND DEPOSITS
OIL SANDS
PERMEABILITY
PETROLEUM
PETROLOGY
POROSITY
RESERVES
RESERVOIR ENGINEERING
RESOURCES
ROCKS
SANDSTONES
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SEDIMENTATION
SHALES
STIMULATION
SURFACE MINING
VISCOSITY
WELL STIMULATION