CNRL applies for Kirby oil sands expansion
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. has filed regulatory applications for expansion of its Kirby in situ oil sands project in the southern Athabasca region of Alberta.
CNRL has begun construction of the initial Kirby project, which includes four well pads and the possible addition of eight pads over 15 years along with a facility able to process 40,000 b/d of bitumen. Alberta’s Energy Resources Conservation Board and other agencies have approved production of as much as 45,000 b/d.
Also approved is a project to develop and produce 10,000 b/d of bitumen in the Kirby area that CNRL acquired from Enerplus Resources Fund.
Under the new application, that project is to be combined with with other expansions to push CNRL’s total production capacity in the Kirby area to as much as 140,000 b/d through steam-assisted gravity drainage and possibly cyclic steam simulation.
The project under construction is scheduled to come on stream in 2013, and the expansion project is to start production in 2016.
CNRL, operator with 100% interest, estimates Kirby proved and probable reserves at 457 million bbl.
Bob Tippee | Editor
Bob Tippee has been chief editor of Oil & Gas Journal since January 1999 and a member of the Journal staff since October 1977. Before joining the magazine, he worked as a reporter at the Tulsa World and served for four years as an officer in the US Air Force. A native of St. Louis, he holds a degree in journalism from the University of Tulsa.
