Project Profile
Location: Athabasca oil sands region, west of the fourth meridian, approximately 90 km from Fort McMurray and 40 km from West Ells in Alberta, Canada
Production capacity: 70,000 bpd of bitumen
Area: 5,888 contiguous gross hectares
Sunshine Oilsands commenced a Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) project in the region. SAGD is an enhanced oil recovery technology for producing heavy crude oil and bitumen.
Thickwood will be capable of producing 70,000 bpd of bitumen and is expected to maintain a productive life of 47 years.
A 10,000 bpd commercial SAGD application to construct the first phase at Thickwood was submitted on October 31, 2011 and approved in 2013. The Thickwood area will also be developed in phases in order to control costs, implement improvements in recovery technologies and improve efficiency. The Thickwood asset team has completed the DBM (design base memorandum) and is progressing FEED (front end engineering and design) and is structuring agreements for long lead equipment and services.
Phased development
Phase A1 - 10,000 bpd, approval granted. (September, 2013)
Phase A2 - 30,000 bpd, awaiting project sanctioning. (June, 2015)
Phase B - 30,000 bpd, awaiting project sanctioning. (June, 2015)
Operators:
Sunshine Oilsands Ltd: Operator with 100% interest