North West Upgrading is planning to keep 1.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. The company’s proposed bitumen upgrading facility will instead use the CO2 to help recover more than a billion barrels of oil in Alberta.
Nexen and OPTI Canada are turning a heavy oil waste product into a synthetic gas to help fuel its steam assisted gravity drainage operation (SAGD) at Long Lake.
Laricina Energy CEO Glen Schmidt likens the technology the company is testing to a hybrid car. Laricina is one of several oil sands companies that are exploring the use of solvents with steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) to help loosen and extract the bitumen.
Long before concern over greenhouse gas emissions, Imperial Oil was looking for ways to reduce the amount of natural gas the company burns at its Cold Lake oil sands operation.