Extraction Technologies-SAGD:  Dominant technology in Canadian oil sands

• Steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD)
  • Its defining characteristic is horizontal well pairs, one stacked on top of another
  • Steam is injected into the higher of the two.  The steam heats the bitumen to the point where it can flow to the lower well bore
  • Vapex is a similar concept, but instead of using steam a solvent , such as propane or ethane, is used.  Due to operational issues the concept has yet to be field tested.