Project Profile
Value: US$11,335 million
Location: Canada
Start-up Year: 2012
Production: 110,000 bbl/day
The project will see the construction of an open-pit mining operation & extraction plant (upgrader). The total recoverable bitumen before royalties is estimated to be 4.6 billion barrels. The estimated cost of the project is C$5 - C$8 billion. When complete, Kearl will be one of Canada’s largest open-pit mining operations. In 2014, Canadian heavy crude fell to near US$40 a barrel, threatening projects under construction as producers boosted output and space on a pipeline was rationed. Imperial Oil Ltd. (IMO) is increasing output at its Kearl oil sands project to 110,000 barrels a day after a shutdown in November 2014
Initial Development
The development plan is phased to capture learnings and enhance execution, development and marketing. The start production is planned at 110,000 bpd and the later phases will increase planned production capacity to 345,000 bpd. After Phase 1 is complete, the company will adjust operations to increase production, adding 60,000 bpd then build Phase 2 followed by another debottlenecking to reach full output. Workers are on-site constructing phase one of the project for targeted start up in late 2012.
Expansion Phase
The plan is currently being reconfigured to include a combination of efficiencies and expansion to minimise facility requirements and to reduce the plant footprint. Later expansion is expected to produce more than 300,000 barrels per day (48,000 m3/d) by late 2015. In December 2011, Imperial Oil Limited’s board of directors has approved the expansion phase of the Kearl Oil Sands Project. The Kearl expansion project is a key element of Imperial’s plan to double its production to approximately 600,000 oil equivalent barrels per day by 2020.
Operators:
Imperial Oil: Operator with 71% interest
ExxonMobil: 29% interest
Contractors:
Babcock & Wilcox Company: Four modularized boilers and additional four boilers
CB&I: Procurement and module assembly
Fluor: Infrastructure and offlease facilities EPC
Horton CBI Limited: Bitumen extraction unit and multiple storage tanks EPC