Imperial Oil Resources Ventures Ltd. has let a contract to CB&I for expansion of the Kearl oil sands mining project under development in the North Athabasca region of Alberta (OGJ Online, Mar. 16, 2011).
CB&I will conduct engineering, procurement, module assembly, and construction of a second bitumen extraction plant, froth tank farms, multiple storage tanks, and six froth settling units. The contract value exceeds $750 million.
The first phase of Kearl development, for which CB&I holds major contracts, is to start production late this year at about 110,000 b/d and eventually reach plant capacity of 145,000 b/d.
The expansion will add 110,000 b/d of production. Combined with the initial phase, it will develop 3.2 billion bbl of bitumen at a cumulative unit development cost of about $6.20/bbl, Imperial Oil said last month.
Future bottlenecking of both phases will increase production to the approved rate of 345,000 b/d and fully develop 4.6 billion bbl, the company said.
Imperial Oil holds a 71% interest in the project. ExxonMobil Canada holds the remainder.
