It all starts with understanding the rock
Cenovus sponsors Canada's winning bid to host the International Geological Congress in 2028.
From the volcanic rocks of Haida Gwaii on B.C.’s west coast to the fossils of Mistaken Point on the east tip of Newfoundland, with the Rocky Mountains and Canadian Shield in between, Canada is home to many of the world's oldest and most diverse geological features and formations. And some of those formations contain one of the country’s most valuable natural resources – oil and natural gas.
For decades, Cenovus Energy has dedicated its expertise to understanding how to unlock and recover those resources in Alberta’s oil sands. In the late 1990s, through its predecessor companies, Cenovus was instrumental in developing, piloting and commercializing steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) technology, a process that involves sending steam down a well to heat and extract oil from porous rocks and sand 100-200 metres underground. The evolution of this production technology at Cenovus’s Foster Creek, Christina Lake and Sunrise oil sands operations in northern Alberta, as well as thermal and heavy oil operations in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, has required and helped attract some of the most talented geologists and geoscientists in the world.
“Our business begins with understanding the rocks. Geologists act like detectives, piecing together clues from snippets of information like seismic data and core samples from test wells to determine what is underground,” says Travis Shackleton, Director, Oil Sands Geosciences at Cenovus. “One of the biggest obstacles with SAGD is identifying the different properties of the rock within our oil sands reservoirs so we can place our wells in the best location and develop the right production technologies to maximize resource recovery and ensure efficient and responsible development.”
Today, Cenovus is a global leader in SAGD and its operations have achieved among the lowest steam to oil ratios in the industry, a key measure of production efficiency.
To celebrate our rich history, success and expertise in the geosciences, Cenovus sponsored Canada’s bid to host the 38th International Geological Congress (IGC) in Calgary, bringing together over 6,000 geoscientists from across the globe for the advancement of Earth Science. The event takes place every four years in a different major city around the world, with a new theme each time. The proposed theme for 2028 is Geosciences for Humanity.
“From a small pilot with the government of Alberta in the 1990s to producing approximately 590,000 barrels of oil a day from our SAGD assets, it’s incredible to see how far we’ve come and how important geologists and geoscientists have been in that journey,” says Simon Gittins, Chief Reservoir Engineer at Cenovus. “The entire oil and gas industry in Canada has benefited from the work of these professions so it would be amazing to host the congress and acknowledge those achievements right here at home.”
The bid closed on August 29, when the host city was decided and announced in South Korea.
“Our talented geologists and geoscientists in Canada have so much to share with the world and, given how many of them live here in Alberta, we believe Calgary is a rock-solid choice to host the 2028 IGC,” says Travis.
Check out the IGC’s website to learn more about the event.
LAST UPDATED: September 2024
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