On December 14, 2007, Total filed the integrated application for the Total Upgrader. The application was submitted to the Alberta Energy Utilities Board for approval to construct and operate a processing plant in Alberta and to Alberta Environment for approval that the plant is in accordance with the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act and the Water Act.
The proposed Upgrader is part of Total’s overall oil sands development plans. Located in Strathcona County, about 4 km northeast of Fort Saskatchewan within Alberta’s Industrial Heartland, at full capacity the Total Upgrader will process and convert 295,000 barrels per day of bitumen into light, sweet synthetic crude oil.
The bitumen extracted by Total’s upstream projects, including Joslyn and Surmont, will be transported to the Fort Saskatchewan area by pipelines and will be available as feedstock for the Total Upgrader.
The Total Upgrader will add value to Alberta’s resources by converting bitumen into a product that is much more attractive to the market. Upgrading combines the use of temperature, pressure and chemicals to break up the long carbon chains found in heavy crude oils and bitumen and reorganizes them into more readily processed molecules — easier for transporting and ready for refining.
In July 2008, Total E&P Canada received its first set of Supplementary Information Requests (SIR’s) from the authorities and responded with the necessary information on November 14, 2008 to the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) and Alberta Environment.
The Total Upgrader will be built in three phases and will coincide with the integration of our various Canadian assets. Phase 1 is anticipated to produce 150,000 barrels of light sweet synthetic crude oil. Phase 2 should increase total bitumen processing capacity to over 245,000 barrels per day and the final phase, Phase 3, will take production to 295,000 barrels per day.
Currently in the FEED Phase (Front End Engineering Design), Total continues to define the framework of the proposed Total Upgrader. The FEED Phase was completed at the end of 2009..
A public hearing into the Total Upgrader was conducted from June 1st to June 11th, 2010 and was a culmination of nearly three years of effort involving the provincial regulatory process. A ruling by the regulatory authorities is expected in September, 2010.
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