Fort Hills Oil Sands Mine Marks Milestone, Becomes Operational

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Fort Hills Energy Corporation, a joint venture between Suncor Energy Incorporated (NYSE:SU) (Calgary, Alberta), Total E&P Canada Limited (Calgary) and Teck Resources Limited (NYSE:TECK) (Vancouver, British Columbia), announced this week that operations had started at the Fort Hills Oil Sands Mine, located 90 kilometers north of Fort McMurray, Alberta.

Planning for the $17 billion project began in early 2007, and it was delayed numerous times, including during the economic downturn in 2009 and Fort McMurray wildfires in 2016. Suncor took over the project and initiated feasibility studies in 2010. Construction commenced in 2014.

Fort Hills is the first new oil sands mine to come online in Alberta since Imperial Oil Limited's (TSX:IMO) (Calgary) Kearl Oil Sands Mine opened in 2013. With the addition of Fort Hills, Alberta has nine operational oil sands mining operations.

No other new oil sands mines are scheduled to begin construction or become operational in the near term. The next oil sands mining project will most likely be the $21 billion Frontier Oil Sands project owned by Teck Resources, which is located 10 to 20 kilometers northwest of Fort Hills. That project is in the environmental/regulatory stage, and it is not expected to begin construction before 2022.

Industrial Info is tracking 20 oil sands mining projects totaling $55 billion in the U.S. and Canada as part of the Metals & Minerals Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Intelligence Platform.

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