Alberta regulator shelters bitumen deposits

The Alberta Energy and Utilities Board has dug in its heels in refusing to allow natural gas removal from bitumen deposits in northern Alberta.

In its final report on a drawn-out dispute, the regulator said 917 gas wells and 280 billion cubic feet of reserves should remain capped to protect 25.5 billion barrels of recoverable bitumen.

The gas protects reservoir pressures which facilitate the extraction of raw bitumen.

The board has calculated that energy content of the bitumen is 500 times greater than the potential gas output.

Although the decision can be appealed by the affected gas owners, Paramount Energy Trust, the company most affected by the gas shut-in, would not say whether it plans to take that route.

But Paramount Chief Executive Officer Sue Riddell Rose insists the regulator is off base in its technical conclusions, arguing that gas production from the majority of its pools would not be detrimental to bitumen recovery.

She said that because of the board’s insistence that it will not put the bitumen reserves at risk, Paramount has had the odds stacked against it from the outset.

—Gary Park