ExxonMobil: Expansion of Kearl Oil Sands Production Starts Ahead of Schedule

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Production has started ahead of schedule at Exxon Mobil Corporation's (NYSE:XOM) (Irving, Texas) Kearl oil sands expansion project in Alberta, Canada, according to the company. Industrial Info is tracking the project, which is valued at more than $8.9 billion. Project completion had been set for September 2015.

The expansion by Imperial Oil Limited (Calgary, Alberta), an ExxonMobil affiliate, will more than double bitumen production capacity to 220,000 barrels per day. The operation is 75 kilometers northeast of Fort McMurray, Alberta.

The project consists of additional trains that use paraffinic froth treatment technology to produce bitumen, according to ExxonMobil. The process does not require an on-site upgrader.

Kearl bitumen is now processed by more than 25 refineries around the world, according to ExxonMobil.

Imperial Chief Executive Officer Rich Kruger said in a press statement that "on a well-to-wheels basis, Kearl diluted bitumen has about the same greenhouse-gas emissions footprint as the average crude refined today in the United States. Energy consumption has also been reduced by installing electrical cogeneration technology."

AMEC Foster Wheeler (London, England) performed engineering and procurement for the project. Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR) (Irving, Texas), Horton CBI (the Canadian subsidiary of Chicago Bridge & Iron Company (NYSE:CBI) (CB&I) (The Hague, Netherlands)), Kiewit Corporation (Omaha, Nebraska) and PCL Construction (Denver, Colorado) also participated in the project.

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