Sunshine Oilsands advancing SAGD projects

Jan. 17, 2013
Sunshine Oilsands Ltd., Calgary, has approved a budget for 2013 that includes the drilling of 16 well-pairs at its West Ells project and preliminary work at its Thickwood and Legend Lake areas, all in the Athabasca oil sands region of Alberta and targeted for development with steam-assisted gravity drainage.

Sunshine Oilsands Ltd., Calgary, has approved a budget for 2013 that includes the drilling of 16 well-pairs at its West Ells project and preliminary work at its Thickwood and Legend Lake areas, all in the Athabasca oil sands region of Alberta and targeted for development with steam-assisted gravity drainage.

The company approved a $430 million budget, of which 75% will be allocated to West Ells, 16% to Thickwood and Legend, and 9% for other purposes. Of the total, $390 million will be capital expenditure.

Sunshine received regulatory approval for an initial 10,000-b/d development at West Ells in January 2012 and began construction last October. It plans two development stages of 5,000 b/d each.

The company believes the 9,856-hectare area has production potential exceeding 100,000 b/d from the Cretaceous Wabiskaw formation.

For the 5,888-hectare Thickwood region, which is 90 km from Fort McMurray and 40 km from West Ells, Sunshine has applied for an initial development project with production yielding 10,000 b/d of bitumen. It says production in the area can exceed 50,000 b/d.

Legend Lake, covering 65,024 hectares, is 115 km from Fort McMurray and 15 km from West Ells and also has production potential exceeding 50 exceeding 50,000 b/d, according to Sunshine. The company has applied for a 10,000-b/d first phase.