Southern Pacific Resources Corp. said rail shipments have begun of diluted bitumen (dilbit) produced at its STP-McKay thermal oil sands project in Alberta to a terminal in Mississippi as production at the project ramps up (OGJ Online, Oct. 11, 2012).

Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd. (Japex) has approved commercial in situ development of its Hangingstone oil sands project south of Fort McMurray, Alta., by its consolidated subsidiary Japan Canada Oil Sands Ltd. (Jacos).

Cavalier Energy Inc., a subsidiary of Paramount Resources Ltd., Calgary, has filed a regulatory application for the Hoole Grand Rapids project with the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board and Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development.

Suncor Energy’s Firebag in situ production complex in the oil sands region of Alberta was producing 130,000 b/d of bitumen at the end of November following start-up of the project’s fourth phase.

Wider use of enhanced oil recovery in the US could contribute significant additional revenue to the federal budget, a new report by the US Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21^st Century Energy suggested.

The board of directors of Athabasca Oil Corp. has sanctioned the Hangingstone 1 steam-assisted gravity drainage oil sands project in the southern Athabasca region of Alberta and approved a $536 million (Can.) development budget for it (OGJ Online, Oct. 4, 2012).

Connacher Oil & Gas Ltd., Calgary, will target capital spending of $95 million (Can.) next year on its two steam-assisted gravity drainage developments in the Great Divide oil sands area of Alberta after selling its Montana refinery and conventional oil and gas business (OGJ Online, Oct. 2, 2012).

Laricina Energy Ltd. has amended its application for first-phase commercial development of its Saleski oil sands acreage in Alberta to use cyclic steam-assisted gravity drainage in a single horizontal well.

Suncor Energy Inc. has let a contract to Fluor Corp. for front-end project management and engineering services for second-phase development of its MacKay River in situ oil sands project in the northern Athabasca region of Alberta.

Under criticism from Azeri officials about production declines from the ACG oil and gas fields in the Caspian Sea, BP PLC has held meetings in London and Baku with representatives of State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) to discuss remedies.

Suncor Energy says bitumen production from the first three phases of its Firebag in situ project in Alberta reached design capacity of 120,000 b/d at the end of year’s third quarter, during which steaming began of wells in the project’s fourth phase (OGJ Online, July 28, 2011).

Southern Pacific Resource Corp., Calgary, has begun converting the first of 12 well pairs at its STP-McKay thermal oil sands project west of Fort McMurray, Alta., from steam circulation to bitumen production.