Petrophysical properties of bitumen from the Upper Devonian Grosmont reservoir, Alberta, Canada

• Author / Creator

  Zhao, Yi

• The Upper Devonian Grosmont reservoir in Alberta, Canada, is the single largest carbonate bitumen reservoir in the world, with an estimated 400 billion barrels of bitumen in place. The Grosmont bitumen formed from light crude oil via extensive biodegradation, which produced extremely
  high in-situ viscosities of >1 million cP. Forty nine samples from fifteen wells were selected for rheological behavior, viscosity, and biodegradation pattern analysis. In addition, various methods of viscosity determination
  were compared.
  Results indicate that the Grosmont bitumen is essentially a non-Newtonian fluid at in-situ conditions, exhibiting a distinctive shear-thinning behavior at T < 40°C. Neglecting this character will cause inaccurate viscosity measurements. The viscosity variations in the Grosmont reservoir are cyclic with depth and are stratigraphically controlled. The
  bitumen exhibits 3 levels of biodegradation. Biodegradation parameters from hopanes and tricyclic terpanes may potentially be used for bitumen quality prediction.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Rheology
  • Biodegradation
  • Viscosity
  • Bitumen
  • Grosmont

• Graduation date

  Fall 2009

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3MX5N

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.