Over the past 10-plus years, there’s been an extraordinary consolidation among producers in Alberta’s booming oil sands region. Now, with Cenovus Energy’s planned multibillion-dollar acquisition of Athabasca Oil Corp., more than 90% of oil sands production will be owned by only five companies.
The key themes of Suncor’s Q2 results and earnings call were continued improvement in refined products performance and maintenance turnaround efficiencies, record precipitation impacting mined production, and record financial performance.
The highlight of Imperial Oil’s second quarter conference call on July 31 was the CEO touting the company’s potential to double its operated production, which is almost entirely from the Alberta oil sands, if there is a supportive fiscal and regulatory framework.
Alberta crude oil and condensate production for May averaged 4.31 MMb/d, down 180 Mb/d vs. April, but up 387 Mb/d year-over-year, according to data released by the Alberta Energy Regulator this week.
With a line of sight to expanding pipeline capacity from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, producers plan to grow crude oil production. Today, we go through all the Alberta oil sands growth projects planned over the next several years.
As crude oil production continues to grow in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, more pipeline capacity will be needed. The 590-Mb/d Trans Mountain Expansion in 2024 temporarily provided a period of surplus capacity, but that is shrinking. Today, we go through all the projects in the works.
Suncor Energy provided details on how it planned to replace production from its Base Mine during an investor day Tuesday in Toronto. The mine, which is on pace to be fully depleted by 2035, provided nearly one-quarter of Suncor’s corporatewide production of 860 Mb/d after upgrading last year.
End markets for Canadian crude oil have evolved as production and export capacity have grown, especially in the past few years. Today, we dig into the data to see where Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin crude oil supply goes, how it gets there, and how those destination markets have evolved.
A subsidiary of Bridger Pipeline is planning a 36-inch-diameter crude oil pipeline that would move up to 550 Mb/d of Canadian barrels 645 miles from the U.S.-Canada border to Guernsey, WY. The idea is to push crude south via existing rights-of-way, possibly reviving parts of Keystone XL in Alberta.
The evolving situation in Venezuela is rife with uncertainty. But as the outlook for Venezuelan crude oil improves, there are significant market issues at play as well, including the potential for renewed competition with Canadian heavy crudes along the U.S. Gulf Coast.
