$ 1.1 bn revitalisation project in Saskatchewan

June 26, 1997 PanCanadian Petroleum and 36 partners announced that they are embarking on a $ 1.1 billion energy initiative that extends the producing life of the Weyburn oil field by more than 25 years. The project will create an estimated 1,400 direct and indirect jobs at the peak of activity and help stimulate long-term economic development and growth in Saskatchewan.
"The Weyburn CO2 miscible flood project will apply high-technology, enhanced oil recovery methods to extract at least 122 million additional barrels of oil from the Weyburn field. The Saskatchewan resource that contained 1.2 billion barrels of oil when discovered in 1954," said David Tuer, President and Chief Executive Officer of PanCanadian Petroleum. "This project begins a third phase of oil recovery in Southeast Saskatchewan. It applies leading-edge science to extract another layer of crude oil from the middle of the reservoir barrel," Tuer said.As a critical component of the enhanced recovery, Dakota Gasification Company of Bismarck, North Dakota will build a $ 100 mm pipeline to ship CO2 325 kilometres from Beulah, N. D. to a new receiving terminal at the Weyburn Unit. The CO2, which is currently a by-product of its Great Plains Synfuels Plant at Beulah, N.D., will be pumped into the reservoirs to help sweep more barrels of oil out of the ground. The CO2 miscible flood technology is a proven process that swells oil in deep reservoirs to help flow the medium weight oil to the surface.
"Starting late in 1999, we will inject 95 mm cf of CO2 a day into the Weyburn oil field. This will help boost production at the Weyburn Unit from about 18,000 bpd to nearly 30,000 bpd by 2008.
The pipeline, feeding Canada's largest commercial CO2 project, sets the foundation for an international development that will not only help Weyburn, but also other mature oil fields in Southeast Saskatchewan," said Gerry Protti, PanCanadian's Group Vice President Operations.
Construction of the pipeline compressors and new surface facilities at Weyburn will start in mid-1998. The pipeline will be built in the summer of 1999 and CO2 injection will begin in late 1999. The first incremental barrels of oil production will start to flow in 2000.

According to a University of Saskatchewan economic study, this $ 1.1 bn capital investment is forecast to generate $ 8.6 bn for the provincial gross domestic product over the project life of more that 25 years. When project activity reaches its peak, around the year 2010, it is expected to generate 1,400 direct and indirect permanent jobs.