Province gives boost to bitumen upgrader project
Posted Feb 16, 2011 3:53 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Provincial Government is making good on its commitment to upgrade more bitumen here in Alberta, rather ship it to processing facilities south of the border.
The Premier and Energy Minister Ron Liepert announced a bitumen royalty supply deal to kick-start the $5 billion upgrader project, by Calgary-based Northwest Upgrading, Wednesday.
When construction is complete in 2014, more than 37-thousand barrels of bitumen a day will be processed at the facilities near Edmonton.
(It) “creates new business opportunities, generating very good jobs for years to come,” said Premier Ed Stelmach of the raw material from the oilsands. “And of course, revenue.”
“Why shouldn’t Albertans, as owners of the resource, make their own investment?,” Premier Stelmach added. “Why shouldn’t we take a leadership position? And to succeed in times like these, we must take innovative and courageous steps.”
Energy Minister Liepert says the deal is a value-added proposition, not only keeping the refinement of the tar-like bitumen here in our province, but it will also be the only of its kind in the world to combine gasification with C02 management.
“This refinery is going to be built with carbon capture and storage technology,” said Liepert. “It will allow the CO2, that would normally be pumped into the air, to be captured, compressed and sent down the Alberta carbon trunk line.”
Stelmach says an agreement with Enhance Energy to build the proposed carbon trunk line would direct CO2 produced by the upgrader to conventional oil fields, creating about 10-thousand jobs during construction and an unspecified amount after completion.
