The Canadian oil sands producer said this week it was launching the pilot at its Dover steam-assisted gravity drainage oil sands project in northern Alberta using Enhanced Solvent Extraction Incorporating Electromagnetic Heating (ESEIEH) — or radio waves — in the thermal operation.
The technology was developed in partnership with US defence contractor Harris Corporation.
ESEIEH is similar to SAGD in that it heats the bitumen underground, but instead of injecting steam the technology involves feeding an electromagnetically-charged antenna into a wellbore to heat the bitumen followed by other gases such as propane or butane.
