Imperial Oil takes FID on Strathcona refinery renewables project

ExxonMobil Corp.’s majority owned affiliate Imperial Oil Ltd. has taken positive final investment decision (FID) to move forward with its previously proposed plan to build a grassroots renewable diesel production complex at the operator’s 196,000-b/d Strathcona refinery near Edmonton, Alta., in western Canada (OGJ Online, Aug. 25, 2021).

At an estimated investment of about $560 million, the renewable diesel project will include construction of a new complex that combines low-carbon hydrogen—or hydrogen produced from natural gas with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology—locally sourced renewable feedstocks, and a proprietary catalyst to produce more than 1 billion l./year (roughly 20,000 b/d) of low-carbon, renewable diesel for supply to British Columbia’s transportation sector and for reuse by the refinery itself, Imperial Oil and ExxonMobil said separately on Jan. 26.

Still awaiting final regulatory approval but with site preparation and initial construction works already under way, Strathcona refinery’s renewable diesel production—which could help reduce overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada’s transportation sector by about 3 million tonnes/year (tpy)—is currently planned for startup in 2025, the companies said.

Imperial Oil’s confirmation of FID on the Strathcona renewables project follows the operator’s previous contract awards to Fluor Corp. for delivery of front-end engineering and detailed design (FEED) and engineering and procurement (EP), as well as Air Products Inc. for supply of low-carbon hydrogen to complex (OGJ Online, Oct. 25, 2022; Sept. 6, 2022).

If realized, Strathcona’s renewable diesel complex would become the largest of its kind in Canada.

Incentivized investment

Part of Imperial’s commitment to supporting Canada’s Clean Fuel Regulation and the country’s ambition to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, ExxonMobil said the Strathcona renewables complex also supports its proposed corporatewide plan to invest about $17 billion through 2023 on lower-emission initiatives, particularly in regions with clear regulatory policies aligned with a lower-carbon economy.

“We continue to focus investments on markets like Canada, where well-designed policies support technologies that reduce life-cycle emissions,” said Karen McKee, president of ExxonMobil Product Solutions.

Upon first announcing the proposed project in August 2021, Imperial Oil confirmed the government of British Columbia would support the project in the form of credits under its provincial low carbon fuel standard (BC LCFS).