University VR lab could make real changes to oil industry
Posted Apr 5, 2017 3:49 pm.
Last Updated Apr 6, 2017 8:48 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
An innovative new virtual reality lab at the University of Calgary’s Schulich School of Engineering could be the key to Alberta’s oil future.
New ideas are being tested on the Calgary campus’ high tech lab, ran by Dr. John Chen, and researchers believe they will lead to cleaner and cheaper oil.
Strapping the VR goggles on gives a virtual walk through reservoirs beneath the Earth’s crust. Dr. Tom Harding of Nexen’s research and development group says it allows for quicker discoveries and significant reduction in invasive field testing.
“So it accelerates the development of new technology that we need today in order to bring the costs down and make our recovery processes economic, especially with regard to oilsands.”
Harding says the current oil price prevents industry from doing new oil sands developments, and bringing recovery costs down with this technology could well put Alberta back in business. He says it could also cut steam injection operations, which create carbon emissions and use a lot of water.
“And we will have improved the environmental sustainability of our recovery process, and at the same time improved our social license to operate,” says Harding. “In that there will be a lot less criticism from the public in general regarding our oil extraction operations.”
This is the only lab of its kind in Canada.
