Alberta’s Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) sees busy times ahead in the province’s oilsands communities.
Bitumen production from Alberta’s oilsands jumped 14 per cent in 2009 and now accounts for over 76 per cent of all oil produced in Alberta. Those numbers are highlighted in the ERCB’s 2009 annual report released in late spring.
The report predicts a bright future for production from the oilsands region. The ERCB predicts production from the oilsands will increase almost 115 per cent in the next 10 years, from 1.49 million barrels per day in 2009 to about 3.2 million barrels per day in 2019.
The government’s energy production regulator is predicting oil will average US$78 per barrel in 2010, and climb to an average of US$122 per barrel in 2019, though the price will continue to be volatile and subject to significant swings.
The ERCB licensed just under 7,000 new wells in 2009, for everything from conventional oil and natural gas to bitumen production in the steam-assisted projects that dominate the Bonnyville-Cold Lake and southern Fort McMurray regions.
In situ bitumen production based on cyclic steam stimulation and steam-assisted gravity drainage rather than mining jumped about 13.8 per cent in 2009, not quite keeping up with the growth in production from mining operations for bitumen in the Fort McMurray region. Still, the ERCB is predicting production from in situ sources in the province’s north will surpass production from mining operations by 2015.
“With an improved price environment and more receptive capita markets, many of these deferred projects are now moving forward and new [in situ] projects are being announced and moving through the regulatory approval process,” the report says.
That spells more development in oilsands communities.
– Compiled by David Husdal
August, 2010
