Cenovus Energy announced the approval of a $2 billion expansion expected to increase production to 210,000 barrels of oil per day by 2017 at its Foster Creek facility north of Bonnyville last week.
The ERCB approved the phases F, G, and H, each which will add 30,000 barrels per day to the facility's 120,000 current bbls/d capacity. Front end engineering has already happened while groundwork is expected to start on phase F soon.
The expansion will employ around 1,000 people during peak construction of phase F, with production expected to start in 2014.
Cenovus plans to submit another application for phase I in 2014 to add another 25,000 barrels of oil per day, which would bring total capacity to 235,000 bbls/d by 2019.
“Because of the staged nature of our developments where we do it in chunks, in (Foster Creek's) case in 30,000 bbls/d instalments, it allows us to have a measured approach to the number of people we need on the site. We're confident we can meet the employee requirements that we'll need,” said spokesperson Reg Curren.
Foster Creek operations currently employ around 275 full-time staff, plus service providers.
Cenovus's Christina Lake oilsands project south of Fort McMurray is also expanding. Phase C is expected to begin production in the second half of 2011 and phase D in 2013. The two expansions will add 40,000 bbls/d each, bringing total production to 98,000 bbls/d.
Cenovus submitted an application for its next oilsands venture at Narrows Lake, near Christina Lake, which would add 130,000 bbls/d and could begin as early as 2016. The company expects to hear back from regulators by 2012.
The project would use both steam assisted gravity drainage and solved aided process (SAP). SAP uses a non-toxic substance like butane, which softens the resource like steam injection and allows it to be pumped to surface.
Cenovus co-owns Christina Lake, Foster Creek, and Narrows Lake with ConocoPhillips.
Additionally, a pilot well pair and associated facilities are in progress in the Grand Rapids formation of the Greater Pelican Region. Cenovus plans to submit an application for a 180,000 bbls/d operation by the end of next year.
“In addition to expanding our current operations, our teams are working hard to prepare for regulatory reviews of several new, additional projects,” said Brian Ferguson, president and CEO of Cenovus, in a press release.
“We anticipate our combined expansions to result in a five-fold increase in our oilsands production by the end of 2019.”
