Imperial Oil CEO Rich Kruger. Image: Imperial Oil CALGARY — Two new oilsands projects with the combined capacity to produce up to 200,000 bbls/d have been approved by the Alberta Energy Regulator but proponent Imperial Oil Ltd. isn’t saying when or if it will build them. Company experts are scouring the “guts and feathers” of the decisions on its 50,000-bbl/d Cold Lake expansion and 150,000-bbld/ Aspen projects, both of which would use solvent and steam to recover bitumen from wells, said CEO Rich Kruger on a conference call to discuss third-quarter results on Friday. The prospect of producing more heavy oil comes at a difficult time as discounts being paid for Western Canadian Select bitumen blend crude versus New York-traded West Texas Intermediate are hovering near US$40 per barrel, about three times typical differences. Light oil discounts have also widened recently as Canadian oil production exceeds export pipeline capacity — although lower-priced Alberta light oil actually weighs in Imperial’s favour because its Edmonton-area refinery consumes primarily light oil, Kruger pointed out. The Calgary-based company has grown its crude-by-rail exports from an average 80,000 bbls/d of diluted bitumen over the last six months to about 100,000 bbls/d now and plans […]
