Project Profile
Value: US$9,359 million
Location: Fort McMurray, Alberta Province, Canada
Production: 350,000 bpd in 2008 and 550,000 bpd by 2013
Start-up Year: 2013
The Firebag project will use steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) process which uses horizontal wells to reach the oil sands ore. The top well injects steam to heat the reservoir, allowing the bitumen to flow to the lower well where it is collected and piped to Suncor\'s upgrading facilities at Fort McKay, 40 km away. The Suncor\'s SAGD oil sands development expansion plan to produce 350,000 bpd in 2008 and 550,000 bpd by 2013. The development is to undertaken in 6 phases.
Phase one of the development was completed in 2004. Phase two (35,000 bpd) was completed in 2006, with a production capacity of 70,000 bpd of bitumen. Phase 3 of the development saw construction work on the central processing facility with C$350M pads and gathering system, adding an additional 70,000 bpd and was completed Q1 2010. Phase 4 (FB4) delivered 62.5 thousand bpd of bitumen in 2010 and also a gas-fired cogeneration project which provided 160MW electricity and 400,000 pounds per hour of wet steam to the Firebag project. There were also four substations and five mile of 144kV transmission lines. Phase 5 and 6 - 68,000 bbld are under application, timing TBD (original startup 2010).
Operator:
Suncor Energy Inc.: Operator with 100% interest
Contractors:
Aecon: Piping, electrical, insulation work, as well as civil and mechanical work for process units for Firebag 3
Canonbie Contracting Ltd.: EPC for cogeneration project with URS Washington Division
Colt Engineering (WorleyParsons): Engineering and construction of pipeline
Flint Energy Services: Site-wide construction and commissioning
Horton CBI Ltd.: Storage tanks
Jacobs Engineering: FEED - Engineering and procurement (Phase 2)
URS Washington Division: EPC for cogeneration project
WorleyParsons: EPC support
Wood Group: Awarded three-year agreement for Suncor Energy heavy oil well pads. The work will be completed using Wood Group\'s standard well pad design. The design was developed in response to growing concerns about escalating cost for in-situ heavy oil facilities, especially steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) well pads, and uses the same design-one, build-many approach Wood Group has applied successfully to other heavy oil and offshore facilities. (October, 2016)