Translation, in short: Royal Dutch Shell (Albian Sands) plans to expand as much as the physics allows and beyond that which (current) labour markets have room for. This all well-timed to move along lock step with the expansion of Temporary Foreign Worker programs, and in tandem with the reduction in labour and environmental standards being "phased in" under the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement" [Tilma]. These plans are to create new vast mines, expand the upgraders, blow the Muskeg River Mine into the stratosphere and much, much more.
Do you think the big energy companies like RD Shell and others think there is any going back from the high prices we have today, or are they counting on the maintenance of these prices, perhaps (likely) due to the geological forecasts that there is nothing else out there to expand into?
just some thoughts, while we ready ourselves for more and more slave-like conditions in the tar pits. Keep in mind this is one of many different players in the area, along with Syncrude, Suncor, Petro Can, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd... it is a long way from a small drop in the bucket.
--M
Athabasca oilsands consortium plans ambitious expansion
Gordon Jaremko, The Edmonton Journal
Published: 2:03 12/22/2007
EDMONTON - Expansion plans by the Athabasca Oil Sands Project will keep an annual average of nearly 3,000 workers busy for 10 years building new bitumen mines north of Fort McMurray.
Production will increase five-fold to 770,000 barrels per day under the growth program described in new regulatory filings by the Athabasca consortium of Shell Canada, Chevron Canada and Marathon Oil Corp.
The construction applications, made to the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board, lay out plans to reach goals set by previous announcements of continuous growth for the Athabasca project.
No new cost forecasts were disclosed. Estimates will be made as plans mature closer to target dates for starting construction stages, said Shell communications officer Janet Annesley.
The applications describe a 10-year work program but seek a flexible schedule. Decisions to go ahead on each stage will depend on costs, economic conditions, regulatory developments and consultations with communities affected by oilsands development, Annesley said.
The new applications extend an expansion program the Athabasca group began soon after the 2003 official opening of its initial operation as the first new oilsands plant built in 25 years after Syncrude's completion in 1978.
Shell leads the group with a 60-per-cent majority interest in Athabasca. Chevron and Marathon each own 20 per cent.
Athabasca has been wholly owned by international corporate giants since Royal Dutch Shell bought out former Canadian minority shareholders in its Alberta branch and Marathon took over Calgary-based Western Oil Sands earlier this year.
Up to $12.8 billion in construction is currently underway. The program includes a 115,000-barrels-per-day addition to the Athabasca project's Muskeg River mine north of Fort McMurray, and a matching expansion of its Scotford bitumen upgrader plant east of Edmonton near Fort Saskatchewan.
The group also previously obtained regulatory approval to start a new open-pit bitumen mine called Jackpine with production of 200,000 barrels per day.
The new applications seek an increase in Jackpine output to 300,000 barrels daily, plus permission for an additional mine called Pierre River to produce 200,000 barrels a day. The pits will tap thick oilsands formations straddling the Athabasca River about 100 kilometres north of Fort McMurray.
The Jackpine addition and the new Pierre River site are forecast to create 2,130 permanent Fort McMurray bitumen mining jobs.
Shell is also seeking approval for staged construction of a new 400,000-barrels-daily Scotford upgrader complex, forecast to cost $22 billion to $27 billion, at the same time as the mines are built.
Shell's Athabasca partners will have options to export their shares in new bitumen production for upgrading in the United States. Marathon has disclosed intentions to expand a Detroit refinery.
gjaremko@thejournal.canwest.com
© The Edmonton Journal 2007
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/business/story.html?id=e251ea...
