The chemical and physical attributes of extra-heavy oil lead to an array of problems with respect to exploration. transportation, strong, and refining. This, of course, is reflected in the increased cost of extraction and processing and physical limitations on production capacity. due to the high viscosity of the crude, some form of improved recovery is usually required for production. steam injection has been common practice, in both vertical and lateral wells. A notable addition to recovery technology has been SAGD, or steam-assisted gravity drainage, combined with horizontal drilling, in this method a horizontal steam—injection well is drilled a few meters above a production well.

A similar technology involves the injection of solvent rather than steam in the superjacent well. It is also common practice to inject a loe –API gravity hydrocarbon fluid (frequently gas condensate) as a diluent into the reservoir to improve mobility. An important production improvement is recovery of cold heavy oil with sand (CHOPS). cold production is achieved in Venezuela through horizontal lateral wells in combination with electric submersible wells in combination with electric submersible pumps and progressing cavity pumps. Finally, efforts are continuing to improve production of viscous oil through down-hole electrical resistance heating.

Natural bitumen is immobile in near-surface reservoirs, where it can be recovered only by mining and surface separation of the bitumen from the rock. Where the bitumen is buried deeply enough to prevent severe heat loss.it may produce from wells by the use of steam injection from vertical wells, by taking advantage of horizontal well technology, or by utilizing SAGD. In these cases, the bitumen is actually extra-heavy oil. For the bitumen in reservoirs too deep to strip-mine economically but too shallow for steam injection from wells to be effective, a combination of mining and steam injection has been developed, with injection wells emplaced from within the mine tunnel, the oil being recovered by gravity drainage.

Most production schemes for both extra-heavy oil and natural bitumen entail the incorporation of upgrading facilities at or near the production site. The benefit is the simplification of pipeline movement of the upgraded oil.