The N-Solv process offers commercial, environmental and public benefits.

Commercial Benefits

• Highest extraction rates of any in situ process
• Substantially reduced energy costs (per bbl energy savings are 80 to 95 percent compared to steam)
• Synergy with SAGD, the entire thermal requirements for N-Solv can be supplied from the waste heat of an existing SAGD
• A high value added oil product, in situ upgrading improves both the produced oil quality & API gravity
• 100 fold viscosity reduction in the upgraded crude, provides substantially reduced diluent costs
• High yields, the in situ upgrading is very specific and eliminates the asphaltenic components that are currently landfilled as high sulphur and metals coke.
• Modular design with manageable capital costs
• Lowest Capex of any in situ process
• Lowest Opex
• Lowest break-even point (= reliable profitability)
• Highest netback
• Highest after tax IRR of any oil sand technology
• N-Solv is expected to produce more bbls of synthetic crude from a reservoir than other in situ extraction processes. This is due to more efficient recovery from the sump (i.e. below the production well) and elimination of coker shrinkage
• Modest temperatures and pressures and robust economics enable thin and shallow zones to be economically attractive targets.

Environmental Benefits

• Low greenhouse gas emissions. The N-Solv savings per bbl of synthetic crude are more than total SAGD emissions.
• No process water requirement
• No salt sludge production and no salt sludge disposal in landfills and concern about groundwater contamination
• No waste coke production therefore no landfill and groundwater contamination issues

Public Benefits

• Substantially higher royalties and more recoverable reserves equals an economic benefit 5 to 10 times higher than any other extraction technology. The incremental tax and royalty revenue has a substantially smaller environmental footprint.