Firebag bitumen output reaches 120,000 b/d

Suncor Energy says bitumen production from the first three phases of its Firebag in situ project in Alberta reached design capacity of 120,000 b/d at the end of year’s third quarter, during which steaming began of wells in the project’s fourth phase (OGJ Online, July 28, 2011).

Third-quarter average production was 113,000 b/d at the Firebag complex, more than double the output during the comparable quarter of 2011.

Firebag, in the northern Athabasca oil sands region, produces via steam-assisted gravity drainage supplemented by infill wells to lower steam-oil ratios.

Suncor expects the fourth phase of production to begin by yearend. It expects total Firebag production to reach 180,000 b/d when the fourth phase reaches capacity.