Facts:

CAPP Awards

Devon Canada has been recognized by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers’ (CAPP) for its environmental performance.

CAPP recently announced the recipients of its 2010 Stewardship Awards.

“The Canadian industry is improving environmental, social and safety performance and we need to recognize leading performance as it happens, reinforcing an overarching culture of continuous improvement,” said CAPP president David Collyer.

This year, 31 projects were submitted for consideration by an independent panel of judges.

Devon received an award for the company’s minimized environmental disturbance techniques, which have reduced the width of access roads in forested areas by as much as 50 per cent. Waste wood is turned into mulch and used for road construction instead of being burned. Once the road is no longer required, the mulch is collected and reused on another project.

ConocoPhillips Canada received a CAPP Stewardship Award for advanced safety auditing.

In early 2009, ConocoPhilips initiated a program to improve safety performance. At year-end the company’s Western Canada gas drilling team achieved significant objectives including a 61 per cent reduction in its Total Recordable Injury Rate.

EnCana could double gas production

Encana Corporation has set a goal to double natural gas production over the next five years, says the company’s president and CEO.

A new comprehensive and independent assessment of North American resource potential confirmed an enormous inventory of natural gas that is more than sufficient to support doubling the company’s production in the next five years.

“Technology breakthroughs have unlocked vast new supplies of affordable, clean-burning natural gas – a century of North American supply that will very likely continue to grow as technologies further develop,” said Randy Eresman, Encana president.

“The natural gas game in North America has changed beyond what many imagined just a few years ago. Being a low-cost producer and holding large land positions in the most prolific unconventional natural gas basins, combined with a strong financial position, is more important than ever,” Eresman said.

Encana has one of the largest natural gas portfolios in North America – a land position of 12.7 million net acres stretching from northeast British Columbia to Texas and Louisiana.

Firebag expansion approved

Suncor Energy has received regulatory approval for three more phases of its Firebag oilsands project.

The Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board approved Suncor’s application to develop three additional stages of Firebag. Stages four, five and six each have a planned production capacity of about 62,500 barrels per day. Preliminary work is currently underway on Firebag stage four, with production targeted in late 2012.

The planned facilities will employ steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) technology.

“This expansion keeps us on target for continued production growth, while at the same time reducing the overall environmental intensity of the barrels we produce,” said Steve Williams, chief operating officer.

The first two stages of Firebag have been in operation since 2003 and 2005 with current combined production of about 60,000 bpd.

Stage three has a planned production capacity of 62,500 barrels per day, similar to stages four to six. The $3.6 billion project, which includes pre-built infrastructure for future stages, is under construction with first production targeted in mid-2011.

WESTERN CANADIAN PIPELINE | SPRING 2010 17

Suncor's in-situ project is located on leases known as Firebag. The government has given Suncor approval for three more phases of its Firebag project. Photo courtesy Suncor Energy.

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