Despite a chronic shortage of available construction workers in Alberta’s oilsands region and growing concerns about controlling Canada’s soaring greenhouse-gas emissions, leading producers are rushing forward with big expansion plans. For several, the goal is to boost daily production capacity to a level of 500,000 barrels.
Suncor Energy Inc. had the most recent expansion announcement and now is expecting to boost crude-oil production by 200,000 bbl per day, moving toward the company’s goal of producing 550,000 bbl per day in 2012. The phased-in expansion plans include constructing four additional stages of in-situ bitumen production, a new up grader to convert bitumen into higher-value crude oil, and various infrastructure and utilities. The up grader would be the company’s third. Suncor is using steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) for production. All plans are pending full regulatory approvals.