Proposed Upgrader Offers Hope for Alberta’s Industrial Heartland
Posted: Thursday, November 19, 2009
by Patrick Milligan
Prudential Spencer Real Estate
A proposed bitumen upgrader for the Total oil company will be the subject of hearings under the auspices of the Energy Resources Conservation Board. The hearings, set to begin February 24, 2010, offer some welcome hope for the struggling Alberta's Industrial Heartland, or AIH.
The ERCB would need months in which to decide on the upgrader. Total's Joslyn mine program, which would produce 200,000 bpd, would also need to be approved by the corporation. Approval of this component of the integrated effort is not projected to happen until late in 2011. Upon approval, per Total E&P Canada President Jean-Michel Gires, the upgrader could be in operation for up to 40 years.
Many oil companies are now producing bitumen in Canada but shipping it to refineries in the United States. This practice, referred to as "going long," appears to be economically feasible for companies such as Imperial and Suncor. With a differential of only $12 to $15 a barrel that is not expected to rise in the near future, companies are projecting that significant price increases will not occur until around 2015. The Total oil company has expressed its intention to be pro-active, however, estimating its plan to spend some $20 billion in projects for Alberta over a ten- to 20-year period.
To learn more about this area of Alberta visit my website by clicking on Sturgeon County Real Estate For Sale.
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Top-level comments on this article: (6 total)Hi Patrick,Welcome to SearchWarp!Mark
Hi Patrick. Thank you for sharing this information. I don't know anything what is going on in that particular field but I enjoyed reading your article. ~Nenita~
Welcome to the Searchwarp Community Patrick.
Welcome to SearchWarp Writer community.
Welcome to SearchWarp Writer community.
The oil industry in pretty huge in this part on Canada. Sometimes it's a good thing, sometimes not.Patrick
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