Kearl Oil Sands Project

The Kearl Oil Sands Project is a proposed oil sands mine and bitumen upgrader in the Athabasca Oil Sands region. Imperial Oil Resources and ExxonMobil Canada Ltd. are advancing public consultation and other work on a proposed development in the Kearl Lake area, about 70 km north of Fort McMurray.

Additional recommended knowledge

Don't let static charges disrupt your weighing accuracy

What is the Sensitivity of my Balance?

Recognize and detect the effects of electrostatic charges on your balance

The proposed development will be on the following oil-sands leases:

• Leases 6 and 87, in which Imperial holds 100 percent of the mining rights. Areas deemed suitable for surface mining are primarily in the western part of Lease 6 and the northwestern part of Lease 87.
• Lease 36 and 31A, in which ExxonMobil Canada holds 100 percent of the mining rights

Project Details

Estimated Production

• The proposed development will be an open-pit mining operation. Expected production is 200,000 barrels of bitumen a day. This will likely involve an initial 100,000-barrel-a-day development, with later expansion to 200,000 barrels a day.

Estimated Resources

• When ExxonMobil proposed the Kearl project in 1997, estimated recoverable resources were 1.2 to 1.4 billion barrels. It is not unreasonable to expect recoverable resources for the combined project to be two to three times this size.

Estimated Cost

• Preliminary cost estimates suggest the development would involve capital spending of about $5 billion to $8 billion(CDN), with the final estimate being highly dependent on the final upgrading option selected.

Sierra Legal has launched legal action in Canadian federal courts to overturn the approval. They say the joint federal-Alberta regulatory panel “failed to do its job” when it gave conditional approval to the $7-billion Kearl open-pit mine late last month.

They argue that a full environmental review must take place before the federal government can decide whether the project should proceed.

References

• Kearl Oil Sands Project Description
• [1] Environmental groups sue over Kearl project