House Mountain
Covering 21,320 hectares 20 kilometres south of Lesser Slave Lake, the House Mountain Field is a perfect example of Apache Canada’s use of new technology in the rejuvenation of a field once thought to be near the end of its lifespan.
Upon acquiring House Mountain from Shell Canada Ltd. in 1999, Apache Canada worked to expand the original 1960s-era development, adding 7.5 MMBbls of production. Beyond ensuring high production, the majority of wells in the project have been granted Good Production Practice status, meaning that they are also operated to optimize conservation and environmental stewardship.
House Mountain is a mature project that is closely linked both economically and historically to nearby communities and First Nations, where Apache Canada Ltd. is a proud sponsor of many community initiatives.
Recent advancements in drilling and production technologies have allowed Apache Canada Ltd. to rejuvenate the House Mountain wells, enhancing production while reducing surface footprint and CO2 emissions. New wells drilled in the winter of 2008, 2009 and 2010 were an overwhelming success, proving the enduring potential of the House Mountain field and extending the life of the project for years to come.
Kaybob
The Kaybob project develops the Montney and Bluesky formations in central Alberta, northwest of Edmonton.
Historically, Kaybob has accessed deep gas formations; however, recent developments in horizontal drilling technology have enabled access to significant tight gas formations, increasing production while reducing environmental impact.
Development continues at Kaybob and Apache is confident the project will be a site of continued growth well into the future. This expansion will not only enhance Kaybob’s production, but also strengthen its relationship with neighbouring communities, First Nations and the provincial government.
Leduc
The Leduc field, located in central Alberta about 10 minutes south of Edmonton, has excellent potential for development. Leduc is a mature oilfield boasting low-cost production and a good response to enhanced oil recovery techniques.
Located among rural acreages and farm land, the success of the Leduc field demonstrates the strength of both Apache’s work to limit its environmental footprint and efforts put into cultivating healthy relationships with its neighbours.
Nevis
The Nevis field is located in central Alberta east of Red Deer. A mature and fully developed field, current work at Nevis focuses on maintaining its very healthy production levels. Nevis is comprised of nearly 300,000 acres, and accesses natural gas from shallow environment coal-bed methane. With the field’s production dispersed across so many events, each individual well’s production can be kept modest while maintaining Nevis’ remarkable output.
Provost
The Provost field covers roughly 600,000 acres near Coronation in east-central Alberta. Provost is a mature asset producing 55 million cubic feet of natural gas and 2,450 barrels of oil daily. Though well-developed with extensive infrastructure, Provost remains in the primary phase of oil production, meaning that it will remain a valuable and productive property for the foreseeable future.
Snipe Lake
The Snipe Lake complex covers 185,000 acres of land in western Alberta, 125km east of Grand Prairie. Discovered in 1962, Snipe Lake is now a mature asset and a key Apache property producing 850 barrels of oil per day. Snipe Lake holds significant remaining reserves that Apache hopes to improve with the use of modern enhanced recovery technologies. These new technologies will eliminate the need to inject and dispose of fresh water while permitting both access to new reserves and the reactivation of older, suspended wells.
Virginia Hills
The Virginia Hills project is located in northwestern Alberta near Swan Hills. Initially envisioned as a gas field during its development in the early 1970s, recent development has allowed Virginia Hills to produce oil from the Permian Belloy Sandstone. This dual production focus permits Virginia Hills to access estimated reserves of 3.2 million barrels of oil and 43 billion cubic feet of gas.
Wapiti
The Wapiti field is located in in western Alberta, just south/southwest of the city of Grande Prairie, where Apache’s operations center is located.
Production comes from 12 Cretaceous-era formations, producing oil, natural gas liquids and sweet natural gas, this vertically stacked production comes from an Apache land base of 116,480 acres. This extraordinary diversity of products, acreage and producing formations, creates many new development opportunities enabled by both new and established technologies. Apache operations are located in forested lands that have seen five decades of oil and gas exploration and development.
West 5
The West 5 operating area in west –central Alberta extends north from Sundre through James River, Stauffer and Willesden Green to Buck Lake. Accessing the Glauconite, Cardium, Viking, Rock Creek and Ellerslie formations, West 5’s wells produce the equivalent of 21,742 barrels of oil every day. In addition to these oil-producing wells, West 5 is home to gas and oil facilities, and employs a total of 70 people from the neighbouring communities.
Valhalla
The Valhalla field is located about 30 kilometres north of Grande Prairie. Current Apache production comes from both Triassic and Cretaceous formations, producing oil, natural gas liquids and natural gas. Apache has 15,359 acres located in an area of mixed farmland and forest. This field has been on production for several decades and has many opportunities similar to the Wapiti field.
Zama
The Zama pilot project uses a novel enhanced oil recovery method to produce oil from what were once thought to be exhausted wells. Located near Trout Lake in Northern Alberta, Zama accesses the Keg River Basin, a collection of more than 800 pinnacle reefs. Due to previous development, these formations were no longer productive using traditional methods. In 2004, Apache selected one such depleted pool, then used for waste gas disposal, and by modifying the flow of gases was able to once again produce oil from it.