At present, those in-situ methods are either variants of standard cold production approaches; or cyclic steam stimulation, nicknamed‘huff and puff´; or, more recently, steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD).
However, other in-situ procedures are being investigated for potential future use, such as vapour chambers and fireflooding.
Alberta´s heavy oil is deposited in four main areas with only about one-fifth of the proven bitumen open to surface mining.
This
