Production mapping of Heavy Oil Horizontal wells in Western Canada over the past 15 years has shown that horizontal and vertical well recovery is similar despite horizontal wells having more than 1,000 times the access to produceable oil.
Given the length of reservoir access, horizontal well recovery is a minor fraction of a much larger portion of produceable OOIP. This profound failure to translate physical access into production has left most of the producable oil behind pipe.
The failure is mechanical rather than pressure depletion. A workover design in the range of $130,000 to $250,000 can stimulate inflow for an estimated Capital Efficiency of $1,500 to $6,000/flowing barrel/day. Estimated payout is less than 6 months.
The workover procedure and operational follow-up required to fully realize recovery does not require stimulation with steam, heat, or the injection of fluids, gases, solvents, or chemicals.