News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
EUB RELEASES FINAL BITUMEN CONSERVATION DECISION
Calgary, Alberta (November 10, 2005) - Decision 2005-122 is the result of a public hearing held in Calgary from June 14 to August 12, 2005 where an EUB panel listened to all of the technical, geological and relevant evidence on the bitumen conservation matter. Two previous EUB hearings on the bitumen conservation issue were held in 2004; those proceedings were interim hearings with a limited scope. Parties participating in this year's hearing were allowed to ask the Board to consider again the rulings the EUB made in the previous two interim decisions. In the next few weeks, the EUB will issue a report which will contain the detailed reasons for the rulings contained within Decision 2005-122.
The EUB believes that the production of certain natural gas in the Wabiskaw-McMurray, if allowed, would put bitumen recovery at risk. The EUB has found that as this gas is produced, it poses an unacceptable risk to bitumen recovery using thermal techniques, such as steam-assisted gravity drainage.
The Board had previously estimated that gas comprising about 280 billion cubic feet (about 0.7%) of Alberta's remaining gas reserves, or about 45 billion cubic feet (about 0.9%) of Alberta's annual natural gas production, was shut in following the 2004 interim hearings. Decision 2005-122 rules that production from certain Wabiskaw-McMurray gas zones will not be allowed in 917 wells. This final decision represents no significant change from the gas estimated to be affected by the 2004 interim decisions.
The decision conserves about 25.5 billion barrels of potentially recoverable Wabiskaw-McMurray bitumen that is in contact with the shut-in gas, which is about 14.6% of Alberta's remaining bitumen reserves. The energy content of the bitumen reserves conserved through the decision is about 500 times larger than the energy content of the shut-in gas production. The decision reflects the EUB's mandate, which is to ensure that Alberta's energy resources are conserved, and not wasted.
Alberta's oil sands are a mixture of sand, clay, water and bitumen. Bitumen is thick, heavy oil with the consistency of molasses and is contained within the spaces between sand grains in the oil sands.
The EUB ensures that the discovery, development, and delivery of Alberta's resources and utilities services take place in a manner that is fair, responsible, and in the public interest.
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Note to Editors: this news release contains two attachments. For more information, please contact:
Tom Neufeld, EUB Communications
Tel: (403) 297-8565
Fax: (403) 297-3757
Email: tom.neufeld@gov.ab.ca
Attachment 1: Backgrounder: Timeline of Bitumen Conservation Events
Attachment 2: Backgrounder: Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage
NR 2005-30
The Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) has issued Decision 2005-122 which addresses the risk that natural gas production poses to the recovery of bitumen from the geological strata known as the Wabiskaw-McMurray in the Athabasca Oil Sands Area in north east Alberta.
