Petrobank Energy and Resources has spent the last three years field-testing a new process for in situ production that doesn’t require much water or natural gas.
Back in 2001, when Devon Energy started the planning process with the intent to not use any fresh water in its Jackfish in situ production process, it was a pretty radical notion.
Rather than taking water from the North Saskatchewan River, Suncor draws about nine million litres of wastewater per day from the City of Edmonton’s Gold Bar Wastewater Treatment Facility.
More than 90 per cent of the injection steam required to run Suncor's MacKay River in situ facility is recycled continuously.