Imperial sees cuts in oil sands emissions

Imperial Oil Ltd expects technical improvements to trim emissions of greenhouse gases from its oil sands projects in Canada by 10% during 2016-23.

Along with “continuous improvements in energy efficiency,” the company said in a press release, improvements will come from “next-generation oil recovery technology” at its Cold Lake in situ operations and “improvements in reliability” at its Kearl mine.

At Cold Lake, where production averages 160,000 b/d of bitumen, Imperial is evaluating the first commercial application of a cyclic solvent process which it says “could virtually eliminate the use of steam and reduce emissions intensity up to 90%” in parts of the field.

It also has submitted applications for a 55,000-b/d expansion at Cold Lake based on solvent-assisted, steam-assisted gravity drainage (SA-SAGD). Cold Lake is about 170 kilometres south-east of Fort McMurray.

Imperial awaits approval of a SA-SAGD project called Aspen, which it hopes to develop in three phases of 45,000 b/d each. It submitted applications for the Aspen project, which is 45 kilometres north-east of Fort McMurray, in December 2013.

In its press release, it says SA-SAGD technology “could reduce both greenhouse gas emissions intensity and water-use intensity by up to 25%” from traditional SAGD methods “through lower energy utilisation per barrel.”

Source: Oil & Gas Journal