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ccording to Alberta’s Department of Energy, the Province complete the current Athabasca expansion before deciding on project is targeted to grow to approximately 190,000 barrels
contains the second largest proven concentration of oil the second. Originally, a decision was going to be made in 2009. per day on a gross basis over the next decade.
in the world, the vast majority of which is found in oil Future proposals include expanding the Pierre River Mine One hundred per cent of EnCana's oilsands operations are
sands deposits. There are 173 billion barrels of oil in the oil production base by 200,000 bbl/d.The expansion includes min- in-situ.
sands proven to be recoverable with today’s technology and ing and bitumen processing extended to the west side of the EnCana has a 50/50 partnership with ConocoPhillips for
under current economic conditions. In addition, there is an Athabasca River, the Foster Creek and Christina Lake projects. EnCana is the op-
estimated total of 315 billion barrels of potentially recoverable Shell has also applied to the Alberta Energy and Utilities erator of the upstream portion and ConocoPhillips looks after
Board and Alberta Environment for approval to construct and the downstream (refining) portion.
operate Scotford Upgrader 2 adjacent to Shell’s The assets hold independently estimated recoverable bitu-
existing Scotford facilities near Fort men of more than 6.5 billion barrels, and the partnership’s goal
Flexpipe MAKES solution Saskatchewan. is to increase production from the current 50,000 barrels per
s. Flexpipe Sys The proposed Scotford day (bbls/d) to 400,000 bbls/d of bitumen by 2015.
tems s Upgrader 2 would In September 2008 EnCana received the final approval for
aves be constructed in its Wood River refinery Coker and Refinery Expansion (CORE)
developments and future plans for some of the major projects. share of future three years.
And since the bitumen found in those oil sands needs to be Athabasca mineable The company is also continuing with development of one of
log
upgraded and then piped to market, the latest in what’s hap- bitumen production as its newest initiatives to improve production and lower steam-to-
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pening on those fronts is also included. The following infor- well as bitumen from the oil ratio: wedge wells.A portion of the reservoir (wedge) is heat-
mation was gathered from various web sites, public disclosure company’s in situ oil sands ed by proximity to the steam chamber and the wedge contains
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documents, news releases and news clippings and is believed developments. a “considerable amount of bitumen” that can be produced.
and
current as of Oct. 30,2008. Scotford Upgrader 2 could ulti- EnCana plans to try the procedure at Christina Lake in
mately process up to 400,000 barrels- 2009.
equ
Athabasca Oil Sands a-day of oil sands bitumen into a range of The regulatory process for EnCana’s Borealis oil
Shell Canada’s 100,000 barrel-a-day expansion of bitumen synthetic crude oil products. sands project also continues to move along. Phase
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mining and upgrading facilities is underway. One of Borealis is in the northern portion of the
The Athabasca Oil Sands Expansion is a project that has cre- oilsands area, about 90 kilometres northeast of
ent
ated about 6,000 jobs during peak periods. EnCana Corp./ConocoPhillips Fort McMurray. EnCana holds a 100 per cent
Shell Canada Limited, the operator of the Athabasca Oil Oilsands have become such a large part of EnCana interest in the proposed project area
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Sands, owns a 60 percent share, while Chevron and Marathon Corporation that the company had planned to split into of approximately 36 sections.
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Oil Sands each own 20 percent. two independent energy companies, with one to focus on
This phase of expansion includes construction of mining unconventional resources.
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and extraction facilities at the Jackpine Mine, expansion of froth But given what the company is calling uncertainty in the
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treatment facilities at the existing Muskeg River Mine and global financial markets, EnCana has decided to delay the tim-
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expansion of the Scotford Upgrader. ing of a shareholder vote, originally planned for December, until
The Corridor Pipeline links the facilities. clear signs of stabilization return to the markets.
Muskeg River is about 75 kilometres north of Fort McMurray The integrated oil company was to have taken on expan- Phase
and the expansion of the Jackpine mine is just east of that sions at the Christina Lake and Foster Creek oilsands projects One will be
operation.The Jackpine Mine Expansion will bring production in Alberta. capable of producing
at that mine up to 300,000 barrels a day. Located in northeast Alberta about 120 kilometers south of 35,000 bbls per day over 25 years.
While these expansions take place with a proposed com- Fort McMurray, Christina Lake has the potential to be EnCana’s
pletion date of 2010, partners in the Athabasca Oil Sands Project largest oilsands project. It is estimated by EnCana to have an Fort Hills
are looking ahead to more growth in the future. unbooked resource potential of about 1.8 million barrels of oil. While the Fort Hills Energy Limited Partnership announced
Shell has announced that it wants to eventually bring pro- A current expansion is expected to take production to in September 2008 that estimated costs for its Fort Hills Project
duction up to 770,000 barrels per day, but also said it will about 18,000 barrels per day in 2008 on a gross basis and the have risen considerably, it also says the partners remain fully
Horizon Project
First steam on Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL)
Horizon Project took place in September 2008.
The Horizon Project is the largest capital project in
Horizon plant-looking west
Canadian Natural’s history at $9.47 billion, about eight per cent
above the previous estimate and 36 per cent higher than orig-
inally estimated back in 2004. and all components for the two hydrotreating reactors that will Jackfish
Phase I will deliver 110,000 barrels per day. The company be installed as part of the Phase 2/3 expansion. Devon Energy Corporation is now working on its second oil
says there will be virtually no decline in production for 40 sands project near Conklin, Alberta.
years since there are an estimated six to eight billion bar- Devon Energy has received regulatory approval for the com-
rels of oil on the lease. pany’s second oil sands project in Canada. Construction of the
The Horizon Project involves moving raw oil- 100 per cent Devon-owned Jackfish 2 project started in
sands materials through a complex process September.
to yield raw bitumen crude oil and then
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Once fully operational in 2012, Jackfish 2 will
upgrading it to 34º API, light sweet
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synthetic crude oil. day through Steam Assisted Gravity
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TOLL FREE:
c 888-FLX-PIPE (888-359-7473)
project.
Jackfish, which started operations in
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Natural maintaining 35,000 barrels of oil per day in the first half of 2009.
www.flexpipesystems.com
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full ownership of the re- Jackfish is about four miles east of the Jackfish 2 site in
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The Horizon Project is locat- Devon is the only U.S. independent with active operations in the
an
MacKay River
Located 60 kilometres northwest of Fort McMurray, MacKay
River is one of the largest commercial SAGD projects in the
Athabasca oil sands area.
Owned by Petro-Canada, the bitumen resource at MacKay
River totals 2.4 billion barrels, giving a lifespan of 25 to 30
years for the current plant and the planned MacKay River
expansion. At mid-year 2008, the plant was producing up to
30,000 barrels per day from four central well pads containing
48 well pairs.
In early 2005, Petro-Canada acquired the Dover oil sands
lease adjacent to MacKay River and then in 2006 purchased ad-
ditional acreage from the province of Alberta. The bitumen
resources on the combined lands is more than sufficient to
Photo courtesy of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.
Pipelines
Alberta Clipper
The Alberta Clipper project is a new 1,607 kilometre (km)
oil pipeline from Hardisty, Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin.
The Canadian portion of the project involves construction
of about 1,078 km of new 914 millimetre outside diameter (36-
inch) oil pipeline between Enbridge's Hardisty Terminal and
the Canada - US border near Gretna, Manitoba. The pipeline
will have an initial capacity of 450,000 barrels per day and
allow for expansions up to 800,000 bpd. The estimated cost is
$2 billion and is expected to be open in mid-2010.
The National Energy Board has required Enbridge to con-
duct an emergency response exercise at its South Saskatchewan
River crossing to allay concerns about safety. Horizon mine shovel
Enbridge announced in August 2008 that There are future plans for a second
construction had started on the Canadian pipeline to be added to the Keystone system
portion of the Alberta Clipper expansion that will carry a further 500,000 bpd of oil
project. sands.
Initial mainline construction started near Keystone received National Energy Board
Hardisty and Provost, Alberta and also near approval last year for two major regulatory
Bethune, Saskatchewan. applications to construct and operate the
Canadian portion of the project.
Gateway Pipeline
The Enbridge Gateway Pipeline Project is Southern Lights Pipeline
being proposed to ensure there’s enough Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. is proposing
capacity to transport anticipated increased a $2.2-billion US project to import the light
production from Alberta’s oil sands. oils needed to transport heavy oil and bitu-
The export pipeline would transport pe- men produced in Alberta’s oilsands.
troleum from Strathcona County, northeast of The Southern Lights Pipeline would bring
Edmonton, to a new marine terminal in 180,000 barrels a day of diluent from the
Kitimat on the north central coast of British Chicago area to Edmonton.
Columbia, where it would be exported to The proposed line involves new con-
market. struction and changes to Enbridge’s existing
The Enbridge Northern Gateway Project crude oil pipelines, the company said.
involves a new twin pipeline system. It is es- It believes demand for imported diluent
timated to cost $4 billion and could create could reach 300,000 barrels per day by early
more than 4,000 construction jobs. in the next decade.
The west line would transport petroleum Southern Lights involves building 1,085
from near Edmonton to Kitimat and would be kilometres of 16-inch pipe from the Chicago
1,170 kilometres long and 36 inches in area to Clearbrook, Minn. It would reverse
diameter. It would carr y an average of the flow of Enbridge’s line from Clearbrook
525,000 barrels of petroleum each day. to Edmonton.The project would also involve
The east line would transport condensate building a new line to carry 185,000 barrels
from Kitimat to near Edmonton and would be per day of light sour crude oil from Cromer,
the same length, but 20 inches in diameter. Man., to Clearbrook.
Enbridge had scheduled open houses in If all the changes are made, the capacity
British Columbia and Alberta for November to ship light crude from Edmonton to the
2008 as part of an extensive public review U.S. Midwest will increase by 45,000 barrels
process led by Canada’s National Energy per day.
Board and the Canadian Environmental Enbridge has received National Energy
Assessment Agency. Board approval for its Southern Lights
pipeline project. It’s scheduled for comple-
Keystone Pipeline tion in 2010.
TransCanada Corp.’s 3,456-km Keystone The project was originally expected to
pipeline will carry up to 590,000 barrels per cost less than $1 billion US, but drastically in-
day of oil from Alberta’s oilsands to refiner- creased due in part to rising steel pipe prices.
ies in the Midwest. Construction of the It will run through parts of Illinois,
Keystone terminal and initiating station Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota,
began at Hardisty, Alberta on May 9, 2008. Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.