Japan Canada Oil Sands Limited (JACOS) was an

oil sands Oil sands, tar sands, crude bitumen, or bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. Oil sands are either loose sands or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and wate ...

extraction company. It was the operator of the Hangingstone oil sands project. JACOS was acquired by Greenfire Resources Operating Corporation in 2021.

History

JACOS started oil sands activities in the Athabasca area in 1978 on leases held by

Petro-Canada Petro-Canada is a retail and wholesale marketing brand subsidiary of Suncor Energy. Until 1991, it was a federal Crown corporation (a state-owned enterprise). In August 2009, Petro-Canada merged with Suncor Energy, with Suncor shareholders rece ...

, Canadian Occidental (Nexen) and

Imperial Oil Imperial Oil Limited (French: ''Compagnie Pétrolière Impériale Ltée'') is a Canadian petroleum company. It is Canada's second-biggest integrated oil company. It is majority owned by American oil company ExxonMobil with around 69.6 percent ...

to form the PCEJ group. It was the first Asian-owned oil company to exploit the Athabasca oil sands. JACOS and its partners experimented with a

cyclic steam stimulation Steam injection is an increasingly common method of extracting heavy crude oil. Used commercially since the 1960s, it is considered an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method and is the main type of thermal stimulation of oil reservoirs. There are s ...

(CSS) pilot project on the Hangingstone Lease from 1984 to 1994. In 1992, JACOS parent company

JAPEX is a hydrocarbon exploration, production, and transportation company. JAPEX explores and produces crude oil, natural gas, and liquefied natural gas reserves worldwide. JAPEX has proven reserves of 272 million barrels in Japan and the rest of th ...

participated in the

Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority The Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority (AOSTRA) was an Alberta crown corporation to promote the development and use of new technology for oil sands and heavy crude oil production, and enhanced recovery of conventional crude oil. It ...

(AOSTRA) steam-assisted gravity drainage (

SAGD Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD; "Sag-D") is an enhanced oil recovery technology for producing heavy crude oil and bitumen. It is an advanced form of steam stimulation in which a pair of horizontal wells is drilled into the oil reservoir, on ...

) pilot experiments at the underground test facility (UTF) site. With the positive results from the UTF project, JACOS decided to further pursue SAGD technology at the Hangingstone site. A 3-phase demonstration project was designed and constructed with the first phase becoming operational in 1999. In 2021, JACOS was acquired by Greenfire Resources Operating Corporation (GROC) which is backed by McIntyre Partners and Griffon Partners.

Operations

The GROC Hangingstone SAGD facilities are located on Lease OSL70, approximately southwest of

Fort McMurray Fort McMurray ( ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significant ...

and west of the community of

Anzac The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was a First World War army corps of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. It was formed in Egypt in December 1914, and operated during the Gallipoli campaign. General William Birdwood comma ...

. GROC currently operates the Hangingstone Expansion Project as well as the Hangingstone Demonstration Project.

References

Oil companies of Canada Athabasca oil sands Petroleum industry in Canada Companies based in Calgary {{DEFAULTSORT:Greenfire

History

Operations

See also

References