Working with Industry

There is a wealth of knowledge about the effective operation of water systems in the various steam-assisted gravity drainage and oil sands mining operators in Alberta. One of the main objectives of the Oil Sands Leadership Initiative water management working group is to bring together key players to share knowledge and information that will ultimately benefit the industry as a whole. Additionally this group collaborates to develop innovative water management solutions. The group is pursuing several projects including:

• Operator Training: Developing an operator training and certification program for oil sands water and wastewater treatment systems.
• Regional Solutions: Developing an optimum water solution for the Oil Sands Leadership Initiative member companies operating in the Athabasca region.
• Benchmarking: Developing relevant performance parameters that can be used by all member companies to identify areas for potential improvement and measure improvements achieved individually, within Oil Sands Leadership Initiative as a whole and industry-wide.
• Produced Water Test Centre: Providing the opportunity to test new water treatment and recycling technologies without affecting a company’s production or impacting current operations.

Leveraging ConocoPhillips Innovation and Working with Industry

ConocoPhillips Canada’s Oil Sands Technology group is also working on the application of membrane technology, evaporator and disposal water treatment technologies in-house and has conducted a comprehensive joint study for regional waste management with Statoil and Total E&P Canada. Ceramic membranes provide a barrier to protect downstream equipment from oil upsets as well as promote the reuse of water.