Alberta Energy Regulator sets steam restriction at Canadian Natural Resources’ Primrose project after 2013 leak

CALGARY – The Alberta Energy Regulator said on Monday it is implementing additional requirements at Canadian Natural Resources Ltd’s Primrose oilsands project after concluding excessive steaming caused a 6,648-barrel bitumen emulsion leak in 2013.

The requirements include permanent limits around the steam volumes the company is permitted to use to extract bitumen from underground reservoirs and a requirement that CNRL seek approval for every steaming cycle at its Primrose East site.

“The restrictions do add up to a lasting ongoing decrease in the intensity of the company’s operations. The organization will not be able to pursue its original operating strategy at Primrose,” said Kirk Bailey, executive v . p . of operations in the AER.

CNRL continues to be operating under steam restrictions at Primrose because the seepage is discovered.

Bitumen emulsion – a combination of bitumen, sand and water – was discovered oozing towards the surface at two locations at CNRL’s Primrose project in northern Alberta in May 2013. Two more leaks were found over the next month, prompting the AER to impose restrictions on the site and launch a study.

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In July 2013, company President Steve Laut said the work was producing about 10,000 barrels each day (bpd) under previously expected consequently.

Bitumen seepage to the surface as a result of oilsands operations is not permitted under Alberta energy regulations. A number of animals died as a result of the leak, which continued for months, including birds, mammals and amphibians.

The investigation, described by Bailey as one of the most complicated ever undertaken by the AER, concluded the seepages were caused by excessive steam volumes along open conduits for example wellbores, natural fractures and faults and hydraulically-induced fractures.

CNRL said the regulator’s report was in line with its very own findings at the 100,000-110,000 bpd project.

“Our enhanced operational practices and techniques – in position since July 2013 – includes modified steaming strategies, enhanced pressure monitoring and response strategies as well as remediation of wellbores to mitigate the risk of future seepages,” the company said in a statement.

Cyclic steam simulation involves injecting high-pressure steam into an oil well to liquefy viscous bitumen therefore it can flow to the surface.

The AER said it checked out other producers using the same technology for oil sands extraction, for example Imperial Oil, and concluded those projects posed no recourse of comparable seepages.

? Thomson Reuters 2016