Imperial sees cuts in oil sands emissions

Aug. 29, 2018
Imperial Oil Ltd. expects technical improvements to trim emissions of greenhouse gases from its oil sands projects in Canada by 10% during 2016-23. Along with “continuous improvements in energy efficiency,” the company said in a press release, improvements will come from “next-generation oil recovery technology” at its Cold Lake in situ operations and “improvements in reliability” at its Kearl mine.

Imperial Oil Ltd. expects technical improvements to trim emissions of greenhouse gases from its oil sands projects in Canada by 10% during 2016-23.

Along with “continuous improvements in energy efficiency,” the company said in a press release, improvements will come from “next-generation oil recovery technology” at its Cold Lake in situ operations and “improvements in reliability” at its Kearl mine.

At Cold Lake, where production averages 160,000 b/d of bitumen, Imperial is evaluating the first commercial application of a cyclic solvent process that it says “could virtually eliminate the use of steam and reduce emissions intensity up to 90%” in parts of the field.

It also has submitted applications for a 55,000-b/d expansion at Cold Lake based on solvent-assisted, steam-assisted gravity drainage (SA-SAGD). Cold Lake is about 170 km southeast of Fort McMurray.

Imperial awaits approval of a SA-SAGD project called Aspen, which it hopes to develop in three phases of 45,000 b/d each. It submitted applications for the Aspen project, which is 45 km northeast of Fort McMurray, in December 2013.

In its press release, it says SA-SAGD technology “could reduce both greenhouse gas emissions intensity and water-use intensity by up to 25%” from traditional SAGD methods “through lower energy utilization per barrel.”