Shell Starts Up 100K Barrel per Day Expansion in the Canadian Oil Sands

Shell, as operator of the Athabasca Oil Sands Project (AOSP), announced the successful start of production of a 100,000 barrels per day expansion of its oil sands operations in Canada. The new Jackpine Mine will combine with existing production from the Muskeg River Mine to feed the Scotford Upgrader, which processes the oil sands bitumen for refined oil products.

Construction for an expansion of the Scotford Upgrader is underway, and will come on-stream in 2011.

The Jackpine Mine adds capacity of 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day to the existing Muskeg River Mine capacity of 155,000 boe per day. Once the Upgrader expansion is online early next year production will rise towards capacity over 2011.

This AOSP expansion is one of a sequence of major projects that Shell intends will raise its global oil and gas production by 11% over the 2009 - 2012 period.

The construction of the Jackpine Mine in northern Alberta took around five years, with more than 6,500 employees and contractors involved on site at its peak. With some 255,000 barrels per day of capacity now in hand, next steps will include the efficiency improvements that can come from integrating and operating these assets together, with incremental growth potential from debottlenecking investment.

To reduce the CO₂ footprint of our oil sands operations, we are continuing to advance our proposed carbon capture and storage project, Quest, which could capture and store underground some 1 million tonnes of CO₂ per year from the Scotford Upgrader.

— Marvin Odum, Shell Upstream Americas Director and President of Shell Oil Company

Shell Canada Energy is 60% owner and operator of the Athabasca Oil Sands Project (AOSP) along with Chevron Canada Limited (20%) and Marathon Oil Corporation (20%). AOSP includes the Muskeg River Mine, Jackpine Mine and Scotford Upgrader.

Tags: AOSP, athabasca oil sands, chevron canada limited, marathon oil corporation, Oil, Shell

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