Contract let for Alberta bitumen refinery

March 3, 2014
Partners in the North West Redwater Partnership (NWR) have let a contract to Worley Parsons Group Inc. to provide detailed engineering and procurement services for the tankfarm, piperack, and flare units of Phase 1 of NWR’s greenfield bitumen refinery project in Sturgeon County, about 45 km northeast of Edmonton, Alta.

Partners in the North West Redwater Partnership (NWR) have let a contract to Worley Parsons Group Inc. to provide detailed engineering and procurement services for the tankfarm, piperack, and flare units of Phase 1 of NWR’s greenfield bitumen refinery project in Sturgeon County, about 45 km northeast of Edmonton, Alta. (OGJ Online, Jan. 28, 2010).

Worley Parsons will begin work on its part of the project immediately, the company said.

The value of the contract is about $117 million, according to Worley Parsons.

In late 2013, NWR partners North West Upgrading Inc. and Canadian Natural Upgrading Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., announced a decision to postpone construction of the first phase of the Sturgeon bitumen refinery due to rising capital costs (OGJ Online, Dec. 5, 2013).

Once completed, Phase 1 of the $8.5 billion project will be 50,000 b/d and will capture 1.2 million tonnes/year of carbon dioxide to be sold for use in enhanced oil recovery. Two further phases with capacities of 50,000 b/d each also are planned for the refinery.

Commissioning of Phase 1 commercial operations currently is planned for September 2017 (OGJ Online, Dec. 20, 2013).