Suncor sees long runway for oilsands extension approval
CALGARY Less than two weeks after Teck Resources Ltd. pulled its application for the $20.6-billion Frontier oilsands project, Suncor Energy Inc. has filed an application to extend the life of its main oilsands mine.
Suncor, Canada’s largest oil company by market capitalization, said it expects to spend the next six years before regulators on its Base Mine Extension project, which it doesn’t expect to begin operating until 2030. That’s a timeline that analysts say is exceptionally long for a replacement project and creates new uncertainty for major projects in Canada.
Suncor’s current mine operations are 15 years away from the end of its operating life and the company is looking for approvals to replace its existing production by mining the ore in a nearby lease.
“We feel that filing in 2020 is prudent under the current regulatory process, including the effects of the new Impact Assessment Act to ensure adequate time is provided for the regulatory process,” Suncor CEO Mark Little said on a Feb. 6 earnings call about the project.
REGULATORY PROCESS
The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada released Suncor’s project description late Monday, which shows that Suncor expects to spend between 2019 and 2026 in the regulatory process.
In its application, the company said it expects to use “new technologies” in the mine extension that “have the potential to significantly reduce the overall footprint, reclamation timeline and GHG emissions” of the project. In addition, the company pledged to continue “aggressively pursuing paths to reduce emissions in other areas of its business and in ways that sequester carbon and produce net benefits.”
The company expects to begin constructing the mine in 2026, operating the mine in 2030 and decommissioning the facility 25 years later, in 2055. Once built, the replacement would produce 225,000 barrels of oil per day.
Suncor produced an average of 670,000 barrels of oil per day from the oilsands last year, including from its base mine operations, its steam-based oilsands facilities and its interests in the Fort Hills and Syncrude projects.