Cold Lake Oil Sands Project

Summary Information

• Operator: Imperial Oil
• Country: Canada
• Location: northeastern Alberta
• Production start:
• Partners:
• Type: Oil / Gas
• Estimated Reserves:
• Production Volume: 150,000 bpd

+++ Description

• Cold Lake operations is the largest and longest-running thermal in-situ heavy oil operation in the world.
• The leases at Cold Lake cover about 780 square kilometers of oil sands
• The development includes five steam generation and bitumen production plants, Dene, Leming, Maskwa, Mahihkan and Mahkeses
• Cold Lake bitumen is located more than 400 metres below the surface out of the ground
• It is extracted by injecting steam into the oil sands to thin the heavy bitumen and enable it to flow to the surface through wellbores. (Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage SAGD)
• The latest investment, the Nabiye expansion, included the development of a new steam generation and bitumen-processing plant, field production pads and associated facilities
• Oil is transported on the Cold Lake Pipeline System to Edmonton & Hardisty. Some of the oil is refined in Imperial Oil Strathcona Edmonton Refinery

+++ Contractors

• -

+++ History

• 1999 - Permission granted for Mahkeses project
• 2003 - Mahkeses project completed
• 2012 - Imperial Oil makes FID for Nabiye expansion project
• 2015 - Expansion project completed

+++ Geology

+++ Links

1. Imperial marks official start-up of new Mahkeses facility at Cold Lake
2. Imperial Oil Sanctions Cold Lake Expansion Project
3. ExxonMobil Announces Cold Lake Project Expansion Starts Production on Schedule