Operations start at new emissions-reducing oil sands project

From the Canadian Energy Centre

Steam injection begins at Cold Lake Grand Rapids solvent-assisted SAGD facility

The first oil sands project using a technology designed to reduce emissions per barrel by nearly half is officially up and running.

Imperial Oil CEO Brad Corson confirmed the company started operations at its Grand Rapids project on December 1, one year ahead of schedule.

“Grand Rapids production is expected to achieve an emissions intensity that is up to 40 per cent lower compared to existing cyclic steam technology in use today,” Corson told analysts on a call to discuss the company’s 2023 results.

The project is at Imperial’s Cold Lake oil sands operation, which has produced oil since the 1980s.

The new technology is an advancement in steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), which is responsible for nearly half of today’s oil sands production.

“This is a big deal. This is really good to see, and I hope to see continued momentum,” said Bryan Helfenbaum, associate vice-president of clean energy with Alberta Innovates.

In so-called solvent assisted SAGD, light hydrocarbons or “solvents” like diluent, propane or butane are injected deep underground along with steam to melt and mobilize thick bitumen deposits.

It’s a bit like adding a thinner to a heavy paint.

After an initial start-up phase expected to last through the first quarter of 2024, production is targeted to ramp up to 15,000 barrels per day.

Corson says the company “has a whole pipeline” of solvent deployment potential at Cold Lake.

“We’re continuing to explore future generations of opportunities that will allow us to not only grow production but do that in a lower cost way and also, quite importantly, with lower emissions intensity,” he says.

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World’s largest AI chip builder Taiwan wants Canadian LNG

Published on December 19, 2024

Todayville

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s campus in Nanjing, China

From the Canadian Energy Centre

By Deborah Jaremko

Canada inches away from first large-scale LNG exports

The world’s leading producer of semiconductor chips wants access to Canadian energy as demand for artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly advances.

Specifically, Canadian liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) produces at least 90 per cent of advanced chips in the global market, powering tech giants like Apple and Nvidia.

Taiwanese companies together produce more than 60 per cent of chips used around the world.

That takes a lot of electricity – so much that TSMC alone is on track to consume nearly one-quarter of Taiwan’s energy demand by 2030, according to S&P Global.

“We are coming to the age of AI, and that is consuming more electricity demand than before,” said Harry Tseng, Taiwan’s representative in Canada, in a webcast hosted by Energy for a Secure Future.

According to Taiwan’s Energy Administration, today coal (42 per cent), natural gas (40 per cent), renewables (9.5 per cent) and nuclear (6.3 per cent), primarily supply the country’s electricity.

The government is working to phase out both nuclear energy and coal-fired power.

“We are trying to diversify the sources of power supply. We are looking at Canada and hoping that your natural gas, LNG, can help us,” Tseng said.

Canada is inches away from its first large-scale LNG exports, expected mainly to travel to Asia.

The Coastal GasLink pipeline connecting LNG Canada is now officially in commercial service, and the terminal’s owners are ramping up natural gas production to record rates, according to RBN Energy.

RBN analyst Martin King expects the first shipments to leave LNG Canada by early next year, setting up for commercial operations in mid-2025.

Canadian Energy Centre

Report: Oil sands, Montney growth key to meet rising world energy demand

Published on December 4, 2024

Todayville

Cenovus Energy’s Sunrise oil sands project in northern Alberta

From the Canadian Energy Centre

By Will Gibson

‘Canada continues to be resource-rich and competes very well against major U.S. resource bases’

A new report on North American energy highlights the important role that Canada’s oil sands and Montney natural gas resources play in supplying growing global energy demand.

In its annual North American supply outlook, Calgary-based Enverus Intelligence Research (a subsidiary of Enverus, which is headquartered in Texas and also operates in Europe and Asia) forecasts that by 2030, the world will require an additional seven million barrels per day (bbl/d) of oil and another 40 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) of natural gas.

“North America is one of the few regions where we’ve seen meaningful growth in the past 20 years,” said Enverus supply forecasting analyst Alex Ljubojevic.

Since 2005, North America has added 15 million bbl/d of liquid hydrocarbons and 50 bcf/d of gas production to the global market.

Enverus projects that by the end of this decade, that could grow by a further two million bbl/d of liquids and 15 bcf/d of natural gas if the oil benchmark WTI stays between US$70 and $80 per barrel and the natural gas benchmark Henry Hub stays between US$3.50 and $4 per million British thermal unit.

Ljubojevic said the oil sands in Alberta and the Montney play straddling Alberta and B.C.’s northern boarder are key assets because of their low cost structures and long-life resource inventories.

“Canada continues to be resource-rich and competes very well against major U.S. resource bases. Both the Montney and oil sands have comparable costs versus key U.S. basins such as the Permian,” he said.

“In the Montney, wells are being drilled longer and faster. In the oil sands, the big build outs of infrastructure have taken place. The companies are now fine-tuning those operations, making small improvements year-on-year [and] operators have continued to reduce their operating costs. Investment dollars will always flow to the lowest cost plays,” he said.

“Are the Montney and oil sands globally significant? Yes, and we expect that will continue to be the case moving forward.”