In situ gravity drainage system and method for extracting bitumen from alternative pay regions

A method of planning bitumen recovery from a geographical region, the method comprising:

• determining a region comprising at least one area of an underlying formation, the underlying formation being adjacent to and at least partially underlying a bitumen-containing reservoir;
• determining at least one alternative pay region, wherein an alternative pay region comprises a region neither suitable for recovery of bitumen by surface mining nor suitable for recovering bitumen by in situ recovery using wells drilled from ground level for producing bitumen to ground level above the alternative pay region;
• and
• identifying a location for excavating at least one open drainage pit into the at least one area of underlying formation, the at least one open drainage pit enabling at least one inclined horizontally drilled well to be drilled towards the at least one alternative pay region to recover bitumen from the at least one alternative pay region.

A system for recovering bitumen from a geographical area, the system comprising:

• an open drainage pit excavated into an area of an underlying formation, the underlying formation being adjacent to at least partially underlying a bitumen-containing reservoir;
• at least one inclined horizontally drilled well drilled from the open drainage pit and towards an alternative pay region included in the bitumen-containing reservoir, wherein the alternative pay region comprises a region neither suitable for recovering bitumen by surface mining nor suitable for recovering bitumen by in situ recovery using wells that produce bitumen to ground level above the alternative pay region;
• and
• production equipment for operating the well to recover bitumen from the alternative pay region.