Alberta approves Cenovus Energy’s Telephone Lake oil sands project

The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) in Canada has approved Cenovus Energy’s Telephone Lake thermal oil sands project.

Cenovus Energy plans to develop the project, which is situated about 90km northeast of Fort McMurray, in stages with a 90,000 barrels per day (bbls/d) in the initial phase, followed by expansions.

Telephone Lake is estimated to have a total production capacity of more than 300,000 bbls/d, with a project life of over 40 years.

As of 31 December 2013, the independent qualified reserves evaluator (IQRE) estimated Cenovus’s best estimate bitumen economic contingent resources for the project at 2.6 billion barrels.

The company said it will not make a final decision on whether to go ahead with construction until 2015.

Cenovus Energy president and chief executive officer Brian Ferguson said: “We’re pleased to have received regulatory approval for Telephone Lake as it has the potential to be another cornerstone asset within our portfolio.

“We’re excited about the opportunity that this high quality asset provides for us to create future value.”

Apart from the Telephone Lake project, Cenovus Energy also operates the Christina Lake and Foster Creek projects that are half-owned by ConocoPhillips.

Foster Creek has about 150,000 bbls/d of current gross production capacity and Christina Lake has 138,000 bbls/d of current gross production capacity.

Construction of phase A at Cenovus’ Narrows Lake project is progressing and the company is going ahead with phase A of its 100%-owned Grand Rapids oil sands project.

Image: The Telephone Lake thermal oil sands project is estimated to have a total production capacity of more than 300,000 bbls/d. Photo: Courtesy of anankkml/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.