Ikelic - Alliance Digital Repository

PROJECT ACTIVITIES
AMOCO PRIMROSE LAKE PROJECT GETS
GREEN UGHT
Amoco Canada Petroleum Ltd. has received ap
proval from the Alberta Energy Resources Con
servation Board to proceed with the Primrose
Lake commercial in situ heavy oil recovery
project. The project was originally conceived as
a 50,000 barrel per day cyclic steam stimulation
operation by Dome Petroleum Ltd. before the
company was acquired by Amoco in 1988.
The project, as revised by Amoco, now calls for
the use of horizontal wells, and a combination of
primary recovery operations followed by thermal
recovery. Approximately 20 horizontal wells per
section will be required, and ultimate recovery of
50 percent of the oil in place is projected.
Maximum production rate is still estimated at
50,000 barrels per day. This rate would not be
reached until 2010, but operations could then be
sustained at that rate until 2050.
The Primrose Lake project will be linked by
pipeline to the processing facilities at the ad
jacent Wolf Lake project, also owned by Amoco.
Amoco now holds more than 360 sections of
land in the Primrose area. The company ob
tained most of these holdings in 1993 when it
traded its 3.75 percent interest in Syncrude
Canada to Alberta Energy Company for that
company's Primrose properties.
Construction at Primrose Lake was expected to
begin in late 1994 or early 1995.
####
SUNCOR ANNOUNCES PRODUCTION
RECORD AND BIG NEW EXPANSION PLANS
For the third quarter of 1994, Suncor Inc. said
that its oil sands operation averaged
OIL SANDS
3-1
69,200 barrels per day over the first 9 months of
1994 and was the highest in the 27-year history
of the plant. The increase in production is at
tributable to modifications to the upgrader and
the conversion to a more flexible and reliable min
ing
technology. The year-to-date cash costs per
barrel were C$13.50, on target for an annual cash
cost of C$14.00.
Suncor's Oil Sands Group
recorded earnings of
C$33 million in the third quarter compared with
C$30 million in the same period of 1993. The in
crease was primarily due to higher prices and
sales volumes, partially offset by higher expendi
tures. The Group's quarterly cash costs per bar
rel averaged C$13.25.
During the quarter, the Group
stallation of "Superclaus,"
completed the in
a $14-million environ
mental improvement that will reduce sulfur
dioxide emissions from the upgrading facility by
50 percent.
In November, Suncor said it plans to spend
about C$250 million to expand the oil sands
operations, and boost oil production to more
than 80,000 barrels per day over the next 3 years
while positioning the plant for even further expan
sion.
That announcement was followed in December
by
a statement that Suncor will also spend
C$100 million over the next 5 years to develop a
new oil sands mining site. Suncor noted that con
version from bucketwheel to shovel operation
and use of 240-metric ton trucks have helped cut
recovery
costs to US$10 per barrel and made
synthetic crude competitive with conventional
crude.
The mine expansion was made possible earlier in
1994 when Suncor acquired an oil sands lease
for an undisclosed price from Petro-Canada.
Lease 97 adjoins Suncor's Fort McMurray oil
sands leases and plant. Suncor acquired two
other leases in late 1992 with an estimated life of
40 years. Suncor plans to start developing the
first of these leases in 1 997.
THE SYNTHETIC FUELS REPORT, JANUARY 1995