By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Sept. 15 -- The new Athabasca Oil Sands Project (AOSP) Jackpine bitumen mine in northern Alberta has begun production operations. Shell Canada Energy is the operator of AOSP.
The new mine, with a 100,000 b/d capacity, is AOSP's second mine. Its existing Muskeg River mine has a capacity of 155,000 b/d (OGJ, Sept. 6, 2010, p. 80).
Bitumen from both mines will flow through a 493-km pipeline to feed ASOP's Scotford upgrader, near Edmonton. The upgrader currently is undergoing an expansion and upon completion of the expansion in early next year, production from both mines will rise towards their combined 255,000 b/d capacity.
Construction of the Jackpine mine took about 5 years and at its peak involved more than 6,500 employees and contractors on site, according to Shell.
To reduce the carbon dioxide footprint of its oil sands operations, Shell has underdevelopment a proposed carbon capture and storage project, Quest, which could capture and store underground about 1 million tonnes/year of CO2 from the Scotford upgrader.
Shell Canada Energy owns 60% of AOSP. Its partners are Chevron Canada Ltd. 20%, and Marathon Oil Corp. 20%.
