The aim of my MASc thesis was to develop a new energy model that predicts the energy infrastructure required to maintain the oil production in the Oil Sands operations at minimum cost. The key novelty in my research is that the model searches simultaneously for the most suitable set of oil production schemes and the corresponding energy infrastructures that satisfy the total production demands under environmental constraints, i.e., CO2 emissions targets. The proposed modelling tool was validated using historical data and used to study the 2020 Oil Sands operations under three different production scenarios. Also, the 2020 case study was used to show the effect of CO2 capture constraints on the oil production schemes and the energy producers. The results show that the proposed model is a practical tool to determine the production costs for the Oil Sands operations, evaluate future production schemes and energy demands scenarios, and identify the key parameters that affect the Oil Sands operations. The respective publications of this project are available in my Google Scholar Profile.
Thesis: An Integrated Energy Optimization Model for the Canadian Oil Sands Industry (PDF)