It's been around 70 years since heavy oil began being produced in the Lloydminster area. Tens of thousands of wells have been drilled and well over a billion barrels have been produced. Yet the heavy oil belt along the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan remains a development hot spot after all these years. And the reason is primary recovery technology keeps improving, making heavy oil a profitable niche in the Canadian oilpatch. "Primary heavy oil provides the highest return of capital projects in our portfolio and generates significant free cash flow," Canadian Natural Resources Limited president Steve Laut told investors and analysts at Canadian Natural's 2013 Budget Day presentation in January.
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