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Four New Oilsands Plants for Area7 _0 q% x; {: E) {* {% i3 w5 B
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Upgrader alley keeps growing& h* t( M1 R' M- S- |) P
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Announcement increases proposed3 J q2 D! g$ l, g8 y" p
Edmonton-area plants to 12, D6 N% n! ~1 @4 d6 E$ `3 v
GORDON JAREMKO Journal Business Writer, G' V/ F- y# f. ^; l6 {
EDMONTON" Z# Y) A% X6 Q4 E! p3 H6 g
With files from Jeffrey Hawkins gjaremko@ thejournal. canwest. com
+ _0 n" r3 ]0 \9 YThe Athabasca Oil Sands Project unveiled on Wednesday a six-year construction program to erect four more Edmonton-area bitumen upgraders, expand a Fort McMurray mine and open up a new pit.7 B2 o/ t+ ~, }" T
The announcement from Alberta’s youngest oilsands mega-producer came on the sameday as 2,500 workersbegan work on $12.8 billion in plant additions announced last year.# W- C% u( X" ~) E7 z& G/ G7 ]
Also under study is a new Ontario upgrader and refinery in Sarnia.8 F+ M( \6 D; ^9 U9 e4 ?9 D9 e
The new upgraders are planned for next door to the three-year-old project’s first Scotford upgrader five kilometres east of Fort Saskatchewan. A second upgrader at the site is now entering construction next door and an expansion is underway at Athabasca’s mines 70 kilometres north of FortMcMurray.
( s2 I; D" }' i: M$ @The planincreases to12 thenumber of projects inEdmonton’s $30-billion-plus bitumen upgrader lineup undertakenby all related companies operatingin the region.8 o( a8 d! v+ I$ J
Athabasca aims to build four new plants producing 100,000 barrels per day eachinorder toprocess all of its lowgrade bitumen output into premium refinery-ready oil.
* p; C5 V4 ]+ R& e7 REach mine and upgrader piece of the plan requires 3,000 to 4,000 workers to build. Simultaneous EdmontonandFort McMurray construction is expected to employ a total of up to 8,000 skilled trades personnel during activity peaks.
( H1 J2 Y2 x) H5 ACost estimates are under review and not disclosed. But the project’s 60-percent leadowner, ShellCanada, raisedits production target to 770,000 barrels a day from its former 500,000 barrels daily.
3 P' P6 y* ?# R2 ?( ?% ]“ You can go faster and go cheaper,” Shell Canada president Clive Mather said in an interview.2 u; J; _! w" J8 C# K& A& O- w2 T, a
The new plan calls for uninterrupted construction until the mammoth oilsands operation grows to its full potential, he said./ u6 I$ U I) t6 d1 }
The program will weld project managers, engineers and workersintoa team that will only have to be recruited once and willbecomemoreefficient as thedevelopment gains momentum, Mather predicted.9 ~2 l: W1 ~: a( f1 ?# i
Athabasca minority partnersWestern Oil Sands and Chevron Canada, which eachown 20 per cent, are committed to support expansion planning and will make decisions on participating in construction as starting times for the stages roll around.
$ Z: J+ { H/ `9 ~$ ~" xRoyal Dutch Shell PLC, while seeking to buy out the 22-per-cent minority of Shell Canada’s shareholdersfor $8.7 billion, supports the oilsands growth program with its established 78-per-cent majority ownership, Mather said.
( W) I6 \1 e" z5 m6 [7 q“It is a remarkable resource in a part of the world whichis geopolitically safe,” he said. “We believe the fundamentals (of oil supply and demand) are very strong in the long termand the world needs the energy.”4 S; k' T& ~0 W* X- r
Mather vowed that Shell will not be “distracted” by market gyrations that cut oil to $50 US a barrel this month, the lowest price since mid-2005 and 36 per cent below its $78.40 peaklast summer.3 J$ w9 A3 K# z. S2 \) B5 F
“Prices will fluctuate. Costs will fluctuate as well,” Mather predicted. “We want to invest not just for this year but for many years to come.”
+ c7 {7 B- t% C2 \0 I" _Athabasca’s schedule for its new growth stages calls for completionofpreliminary public consultations, environmental studies and formal regulatoryapplications this year.7 k' z0 E( f; P: \+ r
Constructionis expected tobeginas the project’s current expansion workis completedin 2009, thencontinueinto 2012.
! h+ t9 X9 A4 G8 Q& ^The plans donot include nuclear power. But Athabasca will consider becoming a customer if Ottawa’s Atomic Energy of Canada advances its current proposals for an oilsands reactor beyond talking stages into a credible project, Mather said.
( @8 X7 R2 {: F9 b0 [( dA nuclear plant could significantly reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by replacing natural gas andbitumenburned in oilsands production, he said.
, f; T" a+ e1 B# i3 \; v) S$ IAthabasca is braced for Canada to adopt new policies oncontrollinggreenhouse gasses to tame global climate change while the project develops, he said.
. g0 j8 x+ J5 V6 i' z“We can expect further political leadership on this issue. We welcome that,” Mather said.& M9 V- n% k; B+ I; M, c+ b i
“ We need to have common frameworks,” headdedin urging governments togenerateaclear greenhouse-gas emissions policy to guide industry and consumers.+ Z" j- j% ^, g; A$ ]2 q
“It’s going tohave toapply tomany sectors,” Mather said. Canada should encourage development of technology to capture and permanently store waste carbon-dioxide, and to increase use of biological fuels such as ethanol, he added.
! e! ~! q6 h& u% P" B4 rThe 54-per-cent jump in Athabasca’s planned oilsands production followed new exploration drilling on its bitumen leases north of FortMcMurray.
; L# R; L4 o8 U# G. OEstimates of oil in the properties rose by about two-thirds to10 billionbarrels, and there are still untested areas.2 R3 K# K' g4 f# }/ j9 ?. G
Further exploration could sow seeds for still more expansion projects, said Athabasca communications manager Janet Annesley andWestern Oil Sands president Jim Houck." x# ^% _) d" `- d7 m( t
Local farmers and residents say they are not surprised to hear about the expansion and plan to voice their opinions when given the chance.
. ~" D* s/ A5 G5 ^' H5 F“It’s absolutely crazy here right now,” says Kathy Radke, a local dairy farmer. “I’mnot happy about this at all. Thepollution here is just awful, but they keep over powering everyone in their way. We feel completely helpless.”5 _$ |% ?( P1 N G6 n( [
Maureen Chichak has lived on an acreagenear the Scotford sitefor thepast 28 years and says with each expansion her community suffers the cost in terms of their health.“We’realready toocrowded here,” she says. “Accidents keep happening and emergency response isn’t what it should be. We’re just a disaster waiting to happen.”# \- }4 h$ y x% l' i/ p
However, themayor of Fort Saskatchewan says theannouncement shouldbe welcomedby his municipality, if theconcerns of his citizens aremet during the planning process. “It not exactly shockingnews andI don’t think we should see this as a bad thing,” he said.* K7 l: I7 o ~5 ?4 _2 \ B
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[ 本帖最后由 ligeree 于 2007-1-26 11:28 编辑 ] |
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