"Any time a small Canadian-owned company can complete a $290-million project that's going to produce 10,000 barrels a day for 25 years with about 100 million (recoverable) barrels coming out of the ground, it's cause for celebration," said Richard Gusella, Connacher's president and chief executive officer.
"I feel good. It's a real accomplishment for a company our size, not that we're inexperienced or anything. I had hair when I started in this business," chuckled the balding CEO.
Some of the "real hard grunt work" for the commissioning will take place over the next 30 days, he added. The plant, about 80 kilometres south of Fort McMurray, will "go hot" around Sept. 15. At that time, the company will start injecting the 15 steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) well pairs that are already drilled. The injections will be done for a full 90 days to heat up the reservoir.
"It will ramp up over time but our target is 10,000 barrels a day, and that's geared to the type of asset we're developing," said Gusella.
The original water supply for the steam is from the subsurface and is non-potable. Connacher will treat this water, make steam and inject it into the subsurface. A mixture of hot oil and hot water will then flow to the surface. While the oil is prepared for blending and transport, the recovered water is purified and recycled for repeated use in the plant's steam generators. The water recycle rate is targeted for 98 per cent.
Given predictions for future production, the company has already applied to the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board and Alberta Environment for a second pod about 10 kilometres to the east.
"Our sort of theme has been a small guy in a big guy's game (and) here we are. We successfully financed and built a plant that's going to be there creating jobs for 25 to 40 years," said Gusella. The plant will initially create 40-time jobs.
He recalled that Connacher purchased the open Crown land for the Great Divide site "One cold winter day: January 7, 2004. It's a red-letter day for us." Connacher started SAGD applications over 20 years ago in Saskatchewan, said Gusella, and this latest project is the culmination of that. Given the company has only had the property for three years, he said "What's taken others six or seven years to do, we did in about half the time."
He said he had a well-known Calgary financier pat him on the back at the golf course the other day and say, "'You guys did what nobody else has done. You got it done on time.' We're a snick over budget but in the context of the world we're in, that's no mean accomplishment."
Part of the appeal was its proximity to infrastructure such as highways 63 and 881 and existing utilities.
"It enabled us to be able to do some things off-site which helped our economics," said Gusella. Much of what is at the site was built somewhere else including Fort McMurray. "Over 75 per cent of our services were Alberta-based. That way ... anything that could be put on a truck or a train could get to our site." He added the only thing that had to be built on-site because of size was the tanks.
In farming out the work, Gusella said, "The benefits were spread widely and they will continue to spread widely." He said the people employed at the plant, except one, are from Alberta.
"It's Alberta first in the truest sense," he said. "We're not at all ashamed of the fact we are a Canadian company. It's not the biggest project in the world but ... we as a company have the potential to expand over time."
Partially attributing the company's success to exceptional people and technology, Gusella said "What's driven our train more than anything is we've got great reservoir. We're as confident as anybody can be before you start up production and we're going to get good results.
"We hope that in the fullness of time it's the first of several but we'll take one step at a time. We like to walk before we run."
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Connacher's pant is expected to produce 10,000 barrels per day.
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