They are (were) planning another upgrader in Lloyd. Regina's 3rd unit is in limbo too.
Trudeau must fight for Keystone like he did for aluminum
- Thread starter B00Mer
- Start date
I seem to remember reading somewhere that Husky does the blending for most of the producers in Alberta. I'll snoop around a bit when I have some time. Gotta get my ducks in a row to fly back to work tomorrow.
Yes, for some reason a bunch of upgraders on the drawing board or partly constructed got cancelled a few years back. Suncor had a couple of billion sunk into one by their Baseplant site when they pulled the plug on that one. I was at the Syncrude site just down the road at the time. New CEO, new plans. The high conversion refineries needed to deal with bitumen are plentiful in the US, I guess the numbers were better. The four ungraders operating in Alberta now just supply synthetic crude for domestic use and diluent to ship the bitumen south.
I think his Butts buddy called the shots .
He was called back in to advise on the election is he still a silent partner?
The development of the Bakken shale deposits changed the landscape of North American oil significantly. Upgrading bitumen no longer made financial sense. Oil sands oil is expensive in comparison to other sources. They were, and still are, the first to feel the pinch when the market gets tight.
So has EOR in sweet plays. Heavy oil is $8-9 a Bbl to extract and upgrade and is very stable. The costs of SAGD in the oil sands are dropping and mining being phased out. This takes everything back to square 1 which is lack of finishing capacity.
Kerogen (shale oil) is by far the easiest to use for making fuels but useless for anything else.
Every grade of crude has uses beyond fuel. If only Canada had the ability to process...
Nick, you need to think outside the barrel. Byproducts of bitumen help make up the production costs of Syn.
Kerogen (shale oil) is by far the easiest to use for making fuels but useless for anything else.
Every grade of crude has uses beyond fuel. If only Canada had the ability to process...
Nick, you need to think outside the barrel. Byproducts of bitumen help make up the production costs of Syn.
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I’m looking a little further down the road petros. In a global arena oilsands oil is more expensive than competitors’ products. Yes, SAGD operations show a lower production cost per barrel than mining operations, but current prices do not cover the cost of starting a new operation there either. Look at Tech bailing out of Fort Hills. Look at the cancellation of the Frontier Mine project. Like upgrading, these were projects that came on to the drawing board when a barrel of oil was $100 and up. We will not see those prices again. There are people saying that we are very close to peak global demand and globally we are in a state of oversupply. Pressure from the environmental lobby is only going to get heavier. That’s why the pipeline issue is so critical right now. If it doesn’t fetch us a higher price to have exports heading somewhere other than the US then at least we will increase our export volume. That’s been the goal in the oilsands since the price crashed in 2014/15, make up for lower price with higher volumes, greater efficiency and lower costs. There may be a few good years left for the oilsands but only a few. This is plain from the fact that producers aren’t willing to jump into projects that won’t make it into the black for twenty years. Too many wildcards right now. The biggest customer for our exports is the US (98%) and Biden is a very big wildcard right now. There really is cause for concern, and you can see it in the eyes of the major players.
Correction: Teck didn’t bail out of Fort Hills, the Frontier mine was their project and they walked away from that idea. Teck and Suncor have been increasing their shares of Fort Hills as other partners get cold feet. Royal Dutch Shell was another big departure, selling out to CNRL a couple of years ago.
Suncor is the major player in the oilsands these days, with CNRL, Cenovus and Conoco Philips a little further down the list. Their advantage was that they were well established before the price crashed. Suncor’s Fort Hills hung in the balance for a long time but they ended up decided to finish it because there was too much money already invested. They’ve been on the financial edge since.
Suncor is the major player in the oilsands these days, with CNRL, Cenovus and Conoco Philips a little further down the list. Their advantage was that they were well established before the price crashed. Suncor’s Fort Hills hung in the balance for a long time but they ended up decided to finish it because there was too much money already invested. They’ve been on the financial edge since.
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They didn’t walk away they got pushed away by Canadian Government over regulation .
The cost of environmental regulations is what is pushing investment out of the Oil sands
In his letter announcing the withdrawal of the application for the Frontier project, the Teck CEO said it wasn’t Federal environmental regulations that prompted his decision, but the lack of them. Without a clear view of where the goalposts are, who wants to play?
Exactly my point , it will be the same for all upcoming mega projects making them risky business . We no longer have any credibility.
He said a lot of things to keep open the idea of revisiting the project in the future without outright naming the Liberal agenda
I got that too, it seemed like his main concern was that right now it’s an industry surrounded by uncertainty. Not a good time for placing bets with a twenty year time-frame.