Technip to expand CNRL's Horizon upgrader

May 2, 2011
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. has let an engineering, procurement, and construction support services contract to Technip for expansion of the delayed coking unit at its Horizon bitumen upgrader in Fort McMurray, Alta.

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, May 2
-- Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. has let an engineering, procurement, and construction support services contract to Technip for expansion of the delayed coking unit at its Horizon bitumen upgrader in Fort McMurray, Alta.

Technip said value of the contract is about €100 million. Work is to be complete in 2013.

CNRL is expanding the Horizon oil sands mining and bitumen extraction project, now with capacity to produce 110 million b/d of 34° gravity synthetic crude oil (SCO), in phases to 232,000-250,000 million b/d.

In work it describes as reliability projects, it is adding 5,000 b/d of SCO capacity through 2014, this year completing a third ore preparation plant, hydro transport, and tank expansion.

The coker expansion, coupled with debottlenecking, will add 10,000 b/d of SCO capacity by 2014.

Future work will include a fourth ore preparation plant, vacuum distillation, and gas-oil hydrotreatment, combining for 45,000 b/d of incremental SCO capacity, followed by a fifth ore preparation plant, a third and fourth extraction unit, a combined hydrotreater, and sulfur recovery, adding 80,000 b/d of SCO capacity.

CNRL estimates proved and probable reserves at the Horizon project at 2.9 billion bbl of SCO and bitumen initially in place at 14.3 billion bbl.