Imperial Oil on the march

Imperial Oil, one of ExxonMobil’s Canadian branch plants, is stepping up pursuit of its goal to double production in Alberta to 600,000 barrels per day by 2020.

On the heels of approving an C$8.9 billion expansion of its Kearl oil sands operation, adding 110,000 bpd by late 2015 and targeting 290,000 bpd, Imperial said it will go ahead with a C$2 billion addition of 40,000 bpd to its 160,000 bpd Cold Lake heavy oil project.

The Nabiye project at Cold Lake will tap reserves of 280 million barrels and include a 170-megawatt plant to generate steam and electricity and a facility to process output at the site.

The addition is scheduled to come on stream by the end of 2014 using what is known as a cyclic steam stimulation method of injecting steam through one well to soften the deposit and force it to the surface through the same wellbore, unlike the traditional in-situ method of using two wells.

As a result of that technology and the use of horizontal drilling, Imperial will be able to shrink its footprint in the forest by about 40 percent.

The company has also estimated the steam-injection method will also reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent.

Imperial has budgeted capital spending of C$5 billion for 2012 as it enters the third year of a decade-long strategy to invest up to C$40 billion in growth projects.

The Kearl development is close to 90 percent complete and progressing towards its scheduled startup date, despite encountering delays in obtaining transportation permits to move modules on U.S. interstate highways.

—Gary Park