Patience wins the day

Japan Canada Oil Sands, JACOS, is on the verge of taking the next step from a 13-year demonstration oil sands project in Alberta to a full-scale 30,000 barrels per day thermal-recovery operation. Backed by Alberta government approval of an in-situ facility at the Hangingstone lease, JACOS said work will start as soon as the necessary construction permits are received, along with sanctioning from three minority Japanese partners who control a combined 12 percent of the venture.

JACOS has been running a 7,000 bpd demonstration plant since 1999 as it developed the most appropriate technology to extract and process the raw bitumen.

The project was also put on hold for several years while JACOS sorted out the ownership arrangement.

Brian Harschnitz, JACOS executive vice president, said it took the company two decades to understand the oil sands industry.

“Now we will see the results of our patience over the coming few years,” he said.

The company’s four leases cover about 110,000 acres and hold an estimated 2 billion barrels of bitumen.

JACOS became the first foreign oil company to enter the oil sands in 1978 when it signed a farm-in agreement with Petro-Canada, Nexen and Imperial Oil.

—Gary Park