Oilsands

As Alberta oilsands producers face increasing scrutiny over the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity of their operations, Calgary-based Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. is leading efforts to make exploration and production (E&P) in the province more sustainable, management said Thursday.

Alberta oilsands operations, which have become Canada’s top natural gas user, were cleared tangentially of charges that their value is inflated following a decision Tuesday in the New York climate change case against ExxonMobil Corp.

Projects by Canada’s second largest oilsands producer Suncor Energy Inc. and MEG Energy Corp. are supporting growth for Canadian natural gas use and driving pipeline additions by TC Energy Corp.’s gathering and delivery grid in Alberta and British Columbia, Nova Gas Transmission Ltd. (NGTL).

Cost control has made the Alberta oilsands, Canada’s star growth market for natural gas, “decidedly economic” and production will likely climb when pipeline projects clear regulatory delays, according to the Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI).

A joint review panel (JRP) of the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) has endorsed a proposal by Vancouver-based Teck Resources Ltd. despite findings that effects on nature would be significant.

Natural gas use by thermal oilsands plants could grow almost as fast as their bitumen production over the next 10 years, the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) predicted.

Total Canadian oilsands production is projected to approach 4 million b/d by 2030, nearly 1 million b/d more than current output, though the rate of growth is set to slow compared to previous years, according to a new 10-year production forecast published by IHS Markit.

Wells in the Montney and Duvernay formations in northern Alberta and British Columbia will increasingly dominate natural gas production in the provinces, TransCanada Corp.’s Nova Gas Transmission Ltd. (NGTL) said in the second pipeline expansion proposal to regulators in a week.

The Alberta government offered a C$440 million ($330 million) loan guarantee Tuesday to a proposed refining customer for Canada’s top industrial natural gas user, thermal oilsands production.