SkyStrat TMP Oil Sands Exploration Drilling System

In 2009, Cenovus Energy began developing technology and processes to accelerate the collection of stratigraphic data for Oil Sands Exploration (OSE). This innovation process led to the creation and piloting of the SkyStrat™ TMP Drilling System, which enabled broader access for OSE siting and drilling on unfrozen ground. The system accelerated resource delineation by five months per year, allowing earlier production, and indications from piloting suggest it can reduce OSE footprint while improving project economics. Further study is required to fully understand the environmental and economic cost-benefit of this technology at a regional scale.

The TMP OSE Drilling System is built upon subsystems and elements, some of which were developed with vendors and not contributed to COSIA by Cenovus. However, Cenovus best practices related to the design of certain in-scope subsystems are available to share, including innovation documents on rig selection and BOP development. In addition, proprietary subsystems within scope under the COSIA Land EPA JVA are available for contribution. These include the Cellar Box, Ground Interface, and Dump Bucket.