Bob:

You are right that you need to change the chemistry of the butumen to make it flow. The option to adding hydrogen to the bitumen is to remove carbon from the bitumen. This is what happens in the Cokers at Syncrude and Suncor and what is happening in the Reservoir in the THAI process.

Hydrogen will be added to further refine the bitumen at a Refinery down the pipeline.

In the three pilot THAI™ wells currently in operation, the temperature and pressure are so high as to cause extensive thermal cracking...you have, in effect, a down hole coker, in the mobile oil zone, which not only heats the oil, reducing the viscosity to water, but thermally cracks the asphaltenes which are not oxidized in the combustion zone. So, effectively, you are oxidizing part of the asphaltenes to provide the heat for the process and thermally cracking the remaining asphaltenes. Analysis of the exhaust gases confirms the presence of free hydrogen, a byproduct of the thermal cracking. By adding catalyst down hole, you can accomplish catalytic cracking. This ppt presentation at the Alberta Research Council on 10/12/05 presents the science and some of the original laboratory work.

http://www.choa.ab.ca/documents/CHOA_Lunch_Oct2005_05_WEB.ppt

The field full scale pilot tests are complete with three producing THAI™ wells on line (first well in operation for over a year). Work has begun on the three THAI/CAPRI™ wells. In essence, this process enables production of a syncrude with the upgrading taking place in the reservoir with no use of NG and water and half the greenhouse gas emissions. Capex is half of SAGD currently being permitted/constructed in the province and opex is also greatly reduced, not to mention bypassing the need for an upgrader. This technology is now onstream and in continuous operation at Christina Lake. This is a very exciting development for Alberta Province and Canada from both an energy independence and Kyoto compliance perspective.