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The Long Lake
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 ...
upgrader project is an
in situ oil extraction project near
Anzac, Alberta
Anzac is a hamlet in northern Alberta, Canada within the Regional Municipality (RM) of Wood Buffalo. It is located on Highway 881 along the east shore of Gregoire Lake, approximately southeast of Fort McMurray.
History
Anzac was named for t ...
, southeast of
Fort McMurray in the
Athabasca oil sands region of
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
.
The project is owned and operated by
CNOOC Petroleum North America, formerly known as
Nexen
CNOOC Petroleum North America ULC, formerly known as Nexen, is a Canadian oil and gas company based in Calgary, Alberta.
Originally the Canadian subsidiary of US-based Occidental Petroleum (known as Canadian Occidental Petroleum or CanOxy), it ...
.
Long Lake is an integrated
steam-assisted gravity drainage 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 ...
(SAGD) site which produced of
bitumen
Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...
in 2017.
The project used proprietary OrCrude technology as well as
hydrocracking
In petrochemistry, petroleum geology and organic chemistry, cracking is the process whereby complex organic molecules such as kerogens or long-chain hydrocarbons are broken down into simpler molecules such as light hydrocarbons, by the breaking of ...
and
gasification
Gasification is a process that converts biomass- or fossil fuel-based carbonaceous materials into gases, including as the largest fractions: nitrogen (N2), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), and carbon dioxide (). This is achieved by reacting ...
to produce Premium
Synthetic Crude
Synthetic crude is the output from a bitumen/extra heavy oil upgrader facility used in connection with oil sand production. It may also refer to shale oil, an output from an oil shale pyrolysis. The properties of the synthetic crude depend on the ...
(PSC) oil, with a production capacity of approximately , however the
upgrader was shut down following a 2016 explosion.
History
Development
In 2001, Nexen formed a joint venture with
OPTI Canada
OPTI Canada is a Calgary, Alberta based oil sands development company. Established in 1999, its sole project is the Long Lake oil sands project, of which it owns 35%. The remaining 65% is owned by project operator Nexen Inc.
History
OPTI was fou ...
Inc. (OPTI) to develop the Long Lake lease using SAGD for in-situ bitumen production and OrCrude technology to upgrade the bitumen to PSC.
The first phase of the project received regulatory approval in 2003 and was sanctioned in 2004. Construction at the site began in 2004. Steam injection began in 2007 and the first production was in 2008.
SAGD bitumen operations at Long Lake started in mid-2008 and production of PSC from the upgrader began in 2009. Early in 2009, Nexen acquired an additional 15% interest in the Long Lake project, increasing the company's ownership level to 65%. Following this acquisition, Nexen became responsible for operating the entire project.
There have been some technical problems and the project has failed to meet production projections. As of early 2011, the site was producing about and OPTI was struggling under a heavy debt load and lack of liquidity. On February 1, 2011, OPTI appointed
Lazard Freres & Co., a bankruptcy specialist, raising speculation that restructuring or bankruptcy for the company was imminent. In 2011, CNOOC Limited acquired OPTI, which included the 35% non-operated interest in the Long Lake project and joint venture lands.
On February 25, 2013, Nexen was acquired by CNOOC Limited.
2013 Alberta floods
Enbridge Pipelines (Athabasca) Inc., a subsidiary of Enbridge Inc., (TSX:ENB) (NYSE:ENB) reported a pipeline leak site, about 70 kilometres southeast of Fort McMurray, near its Cheetham terminal on June 22, 2013, of approximately 750 barrels of Light Synthetic Crude oil from CNOOC's Long Lake upgrader SAGD project that spilled into a wetland area near
Anzac.
Unusually heavy rainfall in the region may have caused "ground movement on the right-of way that may have impacted the pipeline."
Operations between
Hardisty Hardisty may refer to:
* Hardisty (surname)
*Hardisty, Alberta, a town in Canada
*Hardisty, an area in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; usually defined as encompassing the neighbourhoods of Fulton Place, Capilano, Forest Heights, Gold Bar, and Terrace ...
and
Cheecham were restored on June 23 when Enbridge's Athabasca pipeline (Line 19) was safely restarted.
2015 oil spill
On July 15, 2015, a pipeline
oil spill
An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into th ...
at the facility was discovered in the afternoon
by a worker in which the factory's failsafe system was unable to detect. As of July 16, 2015, at least —or 31,500
barrel
A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, ...
s
—of oil emulsion has been spilt onto an area of approximately ,
The company said efforts were made to stabilise the leak,
such as shutting down operations at the time of discovery and isolating the area.
The company said the pipeline was installed in 2014 and contains an emulsion mixture of bitumen,
wastewater, and oil sand.
Determining the cause of the spill would take months, according to a company employee.
Efforts were made to clean up the affected area, such as vacuum trucks, and avoid further environmental impact, like affecting wildlife. On July 19, one duck was found dead from the spill.
The facility resumed operations by September 2015, but 45 pipelines remained shut down at that time.
Investigations concluded that the subsurface pipeline ruptured in the
muskeg
Muskeg (Ojibwe: mashkiig; cr, maskīk; french: fondrière de mousse, lit. ''moss bog'') is a peat-forming ecosystem found in several northern climates, most commonly in Arctic and boreal areas. Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bog or ...
due to improper design on June 15, but remained undetected by detection systems for a month until being discovered by workers.
Nexen was fined $750,000 for the spill.
2016 explosion
On January 16, 2016, an explosion occurred in the
hydrocracker
In petrochemistry, petroleum geology and organic chemistry, cracking is the process whereby complex organic molecules such as kerogens or long-chain hydrocarbons are broken down into simpler molecules such as light hydrocarbons, by the breaking of ...
unit killing Drew Foster, 52 and injuring Dave Williams, 28 who succumbed to his injuries January 25. In 2019, Nexen (by then known as CNOOC Petroleum North America) pleaded guilty to charges resulting from the incident and was fined $450,000.
Recent history
In 2018, Nexen announced a $400 million expansion project, which is expected to begin production in late 2020.
Process
The Long Lake project uses SAGD to extract bitumen from the underground oil sands. The process involves using two separate
horizontal well
Horizontal may refer to:
*Horizontal plane, in astronomy, geography, geometry and other sciences and contexts
*Horizontal coordinate system, in astronomy
*Horizontalism, in monetary circuit theory
*Horizontalism, in sociology
*Horizontal market, ...
s into the reservoir. One well is used to inject steam, which reduces the
viscosity
The viscosity of a fluid is a measure of its resistance to deformation at a given rate. For liquids, it corresponds to the informal concept of "thickness": for example, syrup has a higher viscosity than water.
Viscosity quantifies the inte ...
of the bitumen. The previously stable bitumen then drains into the second well, which extracts it to the surface.
The Long Lake
upgrader used OPTI's OrCrude process, which refines
by-product
A by-product or byproduct is a secondary product derived from a production process, manufacturing process or chemical reaction; it is not the primary product or service being produced.
A by-product can be useful and marketable or it can be consid ...
s of the extracted bitumen into usable fuel, which is used to generate steam. This process also generates hydrogen, which fuels the refinement of extracted bitumen through hydrocracking.
How Long Lake Works
/ref> The upgrader was idled and then permanently closed following the 2016 hydrocracker explosion.
Infrastructure
The Long Lake (oil sands) upgrader is linked with the Enbridge Athabaska Pipeline (Line 37), a 17-kilometre-long, 12-inch diameter pipe from Long Lake to Cheecham terminal. Enbridge's 540-kilometre Athabasca (Line 19) from Cheecham to Hardisty, a major part of the network that serves Alberta's oil sands, "can carry up to 570,000 barrels per day of crude from the Athabasca and Cold Lake regions to Hardisty, Alta., a major pipeline hub in eastern Alberta, about 200 kilometres southeast of Edmonton."
Anzac (Long Lake) Heliport
The Anzac (Long Lake) Heliport is located on the Long Lake site.
References
External links
{{Commons category
2009 in-situ progress report
submitted to the ERCB
Athabasca oil sands
Enbridge
Oil fields of Alberta
Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo