Acceleware Ltd. announced the commencement of the heating well workover program at its commercial-scale RF XL pilot project at Marwayne, Alberta. The Company is pleased with progress at the Pilot to date, and based on current observations, remains confident that RF XL will become viable as a critical technology in the effort to decarbonize heavy oil and oil sands production. As previously disclosed the fibre optic distributed temperature sensing (DTS) system in the heating well was damaged during a maintenance operation at the Pilot.

Though not a core component of the RF XL technology itself, the DTS is important to data gathering and power regulation to ensure the system operates within specified parameters. The DTS will need to be removed from the well, inspected and repaired. In conjunction with repair of the DTS, the Company will take the opportunity to remove and inspect certain downhole components of the RF XL system, in order to gain valuable information regarding the initial performance of the RF power transmission system.

Acceleware has now commenced the workover, after developing a workover plan with review and input from industry partners, sourcing replacement parts, and securing service vendors. Upon completion of the workover, heating operations and further testing are expected to resume. RF XL has demonstrated strong potential to become a low cost, low carbon development solution for all heavy oil and oil sands producers, regardless of their size and stage of development.

RF XL would eliminate the need for high-cost steam generation, water treatment and water handling facilities, while also allowing producers to access a significant amount of stranded resource that is currently uneconomic to produce using conventional methods. More importantly, RF XL is expected to increase recovery factors for existing wells, which would materially enhance a producer's reserve value and near term cash flow. When used in conjunction with clean electricity, RF XL would allow producers to develop their resource with near zero carbon emissions, which would lead to decades of emissions reductions and carbon tax savings for the customers.

The Pilot project team will move forward on furthering RF XL testing immediately after the workover. Learnings from the operation are expected to result in additional IP that could further refine RF XL and the CTI design, performance, and economics in the future. Acceleware's Marwayne Pilot is supported by government agencies including the Government of Alberta through Emissions Reduction Alberta and Alberta Innovates, Broadview Energy, as well as three major oil sands partners.